Role of WIC in Early Childhood Overweight

Over half of all US children under age five receive services and supplemental food from the WIC Program. As a result, WIC has become a focal point in the growing campaigns to address early childhood obesity. In 2005, the PHFE-WIC Program and UCLA embarked on a project designed to examine the role of WIC in the prevention of early childhood overweight and to integrate obesity prevention messages into core WIC services This presentation will discuss the second phase of the study which is designed to measure behavior change of WIC participants as a result of the individual education received in the WIC setting. Motivational Interviewing techniques are the basis of the intervention, with WIC staff providing participant-centered individual education to participants on five topics that focus on healthy behaviors. Participants are given the option of choosing their own topic if they do not want to discuss any of the pre-selected topics. Participants are asked to choose a goal at the end of the education and rate their readiness to achieve the goal. A database was designed that enables staff to document the height and weight of the child as well as the topic chosen for the topic of the education, the goal of the participant, and the participant's readiness to make change to accomplish the goal. Results will be compared to a control center with conventional individual education offered to the participants. This grant was supported by USDA/CSREES Grant # 2005-35215-16075. .