Overweight children may benefit from family interventions

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Getting overweight kids to slim down is job one for many health professionals and researchers, but viable solutions to this complex problem are few and far between.

But a new study suggests that a family-based intervention — even one that only involves parents — may work in helping children slim down. The study was done in four rural Florida counties. In general, rural areas show slightly higher rates of obesity than in urban areas, and medical and preventive healthcare services are often scarce.

Researchers recruited 93 overweight or obese children and their parents who were randomly assigned for four months to one of three groups: a family-based intervention, a parent-only intervention and a control group.

In the family-based intervention, parents and children took part in separate groups. Parents received training on nutrition and exercise and ways to manage behavior, discussed their progress and took part in group discussions about any difficulties they had. Children focused on reviewing progress from the previous week, did some exercise and prepared a healthy snack. At the end of the sessions, both kids and parents met together to plan goals for the week.

Adults in the parent-only intervention went to group meetings, which was structured similarly to the parent portion of the family group, with an emphasis on goal-setting with their kids. Families in the control group went through a weight management intervention after the study’s final follow-up.

After four months, children of parents in the parent-only intervention lowered their BMI scores more than children in the family-based group. Both of these groups lowered their BMI stores more than children in the control group. After 10 months kids in the parent and family groups still showed decreases in BMI, and the BMI of children in the control group increased slightly.

The results, say researchers whose study is published in this month’s issue of the Journal of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, bode well for community-based interventions in which children may not need to be present. ‘There are a number of possible benefits to including only parents in treatment groups,’ they write in the study. ‘The first possible benefit is that the parent may be forced to take greater responsibility for learning and explaining strategies to adopt healthier lifestyle habits, as well as implementing those changes in the family environment.’ They also argue that having just parents attend regular meetings about weight control may prevent kids from being stigmatized and thus less enthusiastic about staying motivated.

The study’s authors also say that parent-only meetings may be more cost-effective than whole family interventions, something to consider in areas with fewer resources.

-Jeannine Stein