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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Ihuoma Eneli, MD MS¹, Ioanna Kalogiros, MA², Kaitlin McDonald, BS¹, and David Todem, PhD³. (1) Department of Pediatrics, Michigan State University, B220 Clinical Center, East Lansing, MI 48824, 517-355-2145, eneli@msu.edu, (2) Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, (3) Department of Epidemiology, West Fee Hall, College of Human Medicine, East Lansing, MI 48824

Background: With the rise in prevalence of childhood obesity, different approaches to management have been implemented. Little is known about parental preferences on the approach, structure of an obesity intervention program.

Objective: To determine parental views and needs for an obesity intervention program.

Method: Needs assessment survey of 345 caregivers in two primary care pediatric practices to develop an obesity intervention program.

Results: Of the 345 respondents, 89.5% was female. Median age was 32 years, 41.6% were overweight/obese, and 47.6% had a child on Medicaid. Approximately two-thirds were non-Hispanic White (63.9%), 16.1% African American, 8.5% Hispanic and 11.5% others. Only 13.5% of parents reported they had an overweight child.

A majority of respondents thought the physician's office was the best place to manage an overweight child (62.3%, p<0.0001), particularly among overweight/obese compared with non-overweight caregivers, (87.5% vs. 73%, p<0.05). About 60.3% of participants favored a combination of individual and group visits for treatment of obesity, rather than only individual visits (16.8%, p<0.0001). This preference was more prominent among caregivers with an overweight child, (63%) compared to 50% for caregivers without an overweight child. Participants were willing to spend 30 minutes per session (51.8%), compared with 15 minutes (33.7%, p<0.0001), 30-45 minutes (36.6%, p<0.0001), and 45-60 minutes (25.2%, p <0.0001). Compared with Medicaid recipients, caregivers whose children were privately insured preferred evening hour sessions (61.2% vs. 41.7%; p< 0.001). Of topics to be addressed in a program, participants were most interested in physical activity (57.5%, p <0.01). However, most participants were not interested in any Internet resources on parenting (81.8%, p<0.0001), child's health (73.2%, p<0.0001), or healthy diet habits and physical activity (70.2%, p<0.0001).

Conclusions: To improve the success of childhood obesity program, parental preferences should be considered. Further research is needed to address the negative response to the use of Internet resources, a potential avenue for behavior modification.

Learning Objectives:

• Review parental views and preferences on management of overweight children.

Keywords: Children and Adolescents, Obesity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No