Healthy Habits Plus: Enhancing Household Routines and Reducing Early Childhood Obesity Among Families With LowIncome

Nearly 1 in 6 US children from low-income households have obesity by the time they enter kindergarten. Three household routines -consistent bedtimes limiting screentime and healthy family meals � can prevent excessive weight gain among young children. However implementing these routines is difficult for many parents and requires strong self-regulation or the ability to control thoughts emotions and behavior. A growing number of weight management interventions are incorporating strategies that improve adults� self-regulation with great success. These approaches have not yet been used to promote parent behavior change to address early childhood obesity. In response to this problem our research team developed Healthy Habits Plus a family-based early childhood obesity intervention that promotes healthy household routines through strengthening parent self-regulation. The goal of this application is to evaluate the impacts of Healthy Habits Plus among low-income Detroit families with young children at high risk for obesity. The study will be implemented in collaboration with Detroit Champions for HOPE which empowers parents and caregivers to be their children�s first champions. The study will achieve the following objectives: Objective 1. Establish the efficacy of Healthy Habits Plus among children aged 2 through 5 years at high risk for obesity and their parents. 1.1. Identify differences in age- and sex-adjusted body mass index among children of parents randomized to Healthy Habits Plus compared to children of parents randomized to an active control condition after 6 months of intervention. 1.2. Identify differences in sleep duration daily screentime and dietary intake among children of parents randomized to Healthy Habits Plus compared to those randomized to an active control condition. 1.3 Identify differences in weight-related household routines among parents randomized to Healthy Habits Plus compared to those randomized to an active control condition. Objective 2: Evaluate the implementation of Healthy Habits Plus including understanding the acceptability of the intervention for participants and interventionists and identifying differential impacts of the intervention by intervention dose. 2.1: Quantitatively and qualitatively assess the acceptability relevance enjoyment and sustainability of intervention content and delivery methods among parents randomized to Healthy Habits Plus. 2.2: Qualitatively assess parent leaders� experience implementing Healthy Habits Plus including the quality of training and ongoing support feasibility and applicability of intervention activities and personal growth and empowerment. Tracking Number:GRANT13790383 Funding Opportunity Number:HRSA-23-067 Received Date:Feb 02 2023 03:05:49 PM EST 2.3: Examine associations between parent intervention engagement (dose) and changes in household routines (parents) weight-related behaviors (children) and BMI (children). Healthy Habits Plus will be evaluated through a randomized controlled trial enrolling 150 parent/child dyads. We anticipate that 90% of parents will identify as Black/African American and 7% as Hispanic/Latinx. Data will be collected at study enrollment (pre-randomization) and after the 6-month intervention. Study products include three scientific manuscripts; conference presentations; and videos social media posts FAQs and other communications for families. This project addresses MCHB�s Strategic Research Issues Goals 3 (Promote the health and well-being of children) and 5 (Build the Evidence Base for MCH Practice and Measurement Capacity).