Parents and Tots Together: A Family-Based Obesity Prevention Intervention (PTT)

University of Guelph

Status: Completed

Conditions: Obesity

Treatments: Behavioral: Parents and Tots Together Program; Behavioral: Control

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02222766

190331-41

Details and patient eligibility

About

The obesity epidemic has spared no age group, including our youngest children. My and others' formative research shows that ethnically-diverse, low-income parents of young children are enthusiastic about learning general parenting skills, such as discipline strategies, but less interested in nutrition and physical activity. To capitalize on this enthusiasm, I will create and test an intervention that embeds strategies to improve child weight-related behaviors within a general skills parenting program.

The overall goal of this study is to assess Parents and Tots Together (PTT), a family-based intervention to prevent obesity among children age 2 through 5 years. To achieve this goal, my colleagues and I will conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) among ethnically diverse, primarily low-income families. Our specific aims are to:

1. Determine the extent to which the intervention, compared with a control condition, results in a smaller age-associated increase in body mass index (BMI) among children after a 3- month intervention and a 9-month follow-up period (primary outcome).

2. Determine the extent to which the intervention, compared with a control condition, results in:

   1. Improved parent general parenting behaviors, i.e., increased use of positive discipline strategies.
   2. Improved parent feeding practices, i.e., increased responsiveness to child satiety cues.
   3. Improved child weight-related behaviors, i.e., increased sleep duration and physical activity, and reduced sugar-sweetened beverage intake and television/video viewing.

Enrollment: 112 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• parents who have a child aged 2-5 years
• respond to interviews and questionnaires in English or Spanish

Exclusion criteria

• any families who plan to move during the study period
• children or parents with severe health conditions that would prohibit them from participating in study activities

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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112 participants in 2 patient groups

Parents and Tots Together Program

Experimental group

Description:

9-week group-based parenting program

Treatment:

Behavioral: Parents and Tots Together Program

Control

Active Comparator group

Description:

Minimal attention control- weekly mailed information on general child development for 9 weeks

Treatment:

Behavioral: Control