West Virginia Can! Evaluation of an intervention to increase family involvement in childhood obesity prevention

Background: West Virginia consistently has one of the highest rates of childhood obesity. The WV Department of Education's Office of Healthy Schools (OHS) conducted a pilot implementation of the We Can Energize our Families (We Can!) program during the spring of 2009. Purpose: To report findings from a process evaluation of this effort. Significance: Process evaluations are important in determining whether a program is implemented as planned and to determine strengths and weaknesses of the program and implementation plan. Methodology: Implementation was tracked by email, telephone and electronic surveys with program facilitators. Implementing facilitators' impressions of the program and perceived barriers were also assessed and analyzed using descriptive statistics; open ended responses were coded for themes. Parents were given pre and post surveys, adapted from the national evaluation of We Can! Parent data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and independent samples t-tests. Findings: 15/21 facilitators implemented the program within the evaluation time frame. Problems with obtaining funding led to limited recruitment of parents, which resulting in some facilitators modifying the program. The program was well received by facilitators and had a positive perceived impact. Parents' (n=28) knowledge of energy balance, healthy food behaviors, and screen time significantly improved along with their attitudes toward portion size and healthy eating. Conclusions: Although the sample size was small, some positive results and feedback from facilitators support We Can as a promising intervention in WV. This project supports the Institute of Medicine recommendations for implementing and evaluating family-based childhood obesity prevention initiatives.