Riverside Fit Families: Breaking down silos leads to a successful public health collaboration

Increasing rates of childhood and adult obesity have made national news in recent years. Riverside County, CA Department of Public Health (DOPH) developed Riverside Fit Families (RFF), a multi-disciplinary collaborative effort to make over the family environment and promote healthy living for the entire household. Planning began in September 2006 and involved a cross-section of programs and disciplines within DOPH, a regional health insurance plan, and a local college. Participating DOPH programs included: Epidemiology and Program Evaluation, Clinic Management, Nutrition Services, Public Health Nursing, Community Outreach, and Public Health Administration. The goal of RFF is to facilitate changes in four areas: improving nutrition, increasing physical activity, decreasing sedentary behavior and increasing time spent as a family. Seven sessions are conducted across three months with the families attending weekly during the first month, biweekly the second month and reuniting for a healthy family celebration the last month. During each session, families participate in one of two groups: children under age 12 participate in a nutrition-focused physical activity group, while parents and teens receive nutrition education and engage in family contracting. In the contracting segment, teens and parents review their family's progress towards goals set during the previous session and select their next goals. RFF is designed to benefit the community. It is also an example of the best use of limited resources within organizations and a model of successful collaboration for state and local health agencies to enact change with little or no dedicated funding. Staff from multiple programs have the opportunity to work together and pool their talents to affect change in the community.