College of Health Sciences, University of Missouri, 806 Lewis Hall, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA.
Parents as Teachers National Center, Saint Louis, MO, USA.
Matern Child Health J. 2024 Feb;28(2):214-220. doi: 10.1007/s10995-023-03780-8. Epub 2023 Oct 17.
Little empirical data exists evaluating the feasibility of partnering with established home visiting programs to implement early childhood obesity prevention programs, despite the recommendation to do so. To inform this gap, we evaluated the feasibility of collecting anthropometric measurements of children by home visitors across multiple sites, and the alignment of these measurements with children in need, including with adverse family experiences (AFEs) given emerging evidence suggests an association with childhood obesity.
Our proof-of-concept study included primary data collection of child anthropometric measurements through an established home visiting program in four states. This sample included 248 children ages 6 months to 5 years.
In the sample, 37.1% of the children had overweight or obesity, 50% were female, 64.2% Hispanic/Latinx, 15.8% non-Hispanic Black, and 42.3% from rural/small towns. Households included substantial needs: 87.1% were low income, 73.8% low education, and 59.3% underemployment. Regarding AFEs, 38.3% of the children had at least one, with the most common being mothers who were treated violently. A multivariable model revealed community type, not AFEs, was significantly associated with overweight/obesity status, suggesting children in suburban and especially rural/small town residences (odds ratio 5.11; 95% CI [1.59, 16.39]) could be priority populations for childhood obesity prevention programs.
Findings of this multi-site study inform the feasibility of partnering with home visiting programs to reach and measure a diverse sample of children and families in need of childhood obesity prevention.
尽管有相关建议，但将合作伙伴关系建立在已有的家访项目基础上来实施儿童期肥胖预防计划的可行性，实际上只有很少的经验数据可以证明。为了填补这一空白，我们评估了家访人员在多个地点收集儿童人体测量数据的可行性，以及这些测量数据与需要帮助的儿童的一致性，包括与不良家庭经历（AFE）的一致性，因为有新出现的证据表明其与儿童肥胖有关。
我们的概念验证研究包括通过四个州的一个既定家访项目收集儿童人体测量数据的主要数据收集。该样本包括 248 名 6 个月至 5 岁的儿童。
在该样本中，37.1%的儿童超重或肥胖，50%为女性，64.2%为西班牙裔/拉丁裔，15.8%为非西班牙裔黑人，42.3%来自农村/小镇。家庭包括大量需求：87.1%为低收入，73.8%为低教育程度，59.3%为就业不足。关于 AFE，38.3%的儿童至少有一种，最常见的是母亲遭受暴力对待。多变量模型显示，社区类型而不是 AFE 与超重/肥胖状况显著相关，这表明城市郊区特别是农村/小镇的儿童（比值比 5.11；95%置信区间[1.59, 16.39]）可能是儿童期肥胖预防计划的重点人群。
这项多地点研究的结果为与家访项目合作，以接触和测量多样化的有需要的儿童和家庭样本，从而实施儿童期肥胖预防提供了可行性信息。
