Family Matters: A Mentor Parent Intervention to Promote Health and Wellness of Children with Special Health Care Needs

Policies and programs designed to support families of children with special health care needs(SHCN) in their efforts to promote healthier behaviors and prevent secondary disabilities are promising, but require empirical information. We tested a mentor-parent intervention designed to support parents in their efforts to implement Bright Futures health supervision guidelines for children. We randomized parents in 4 states (NJ,MA,VT,WA) to 6 months of mentor-peer support and periodic newsletters or a control group receiving newsletters only. The intervention provided 1:1 telephone and/or e-mail communication at least biweekly. Intervention parents selected specific goals from 11 Bright Futures recommendations for healthy eating(HE) and physical activity/sedentary behavior(PA/SB). HE and PA/SD attitudinal and behavior changes were assessed by pre-post self-administered questionnaires.

The 28 intervention and 29 control parents, all mothers, were similar at baseline. 25 parents selected HE goals; 21 selected PA/SD goals; 16 selected both. Children were mean(SD) age 9.9(3.4) and mostly white(83%). Overall, HE behaviors of both groups improved, and although for all HE behaviors, the intervention group changed more, differences were non-significant(p>0.10). However, intervention group parents were significantly more likely to feel able to encourage their child to eat healthful meals (p=0.006). PA behaviors did not differ by group. Time spent using electronic media increased less in the intervention group compared to controls (0.07 vs. 0.29 median hours, p=0.099). Intervention parents were also more likely to feel able to limit their child's computer time (p=0.04). These encouraging findings suggest that peer support may be a useful approach to family-centered health promotion.