Fit Families for Life: Using telephone-based education to influence healthier eating habits and increased physical activity

The Fit Families for Life (FFFL) Coaching program is a weight management resource introduced in 2009. To participate, children and adolescents must be within ages 6 to 20 with a BMI at the 95th percentile or greater. Depending on age, members and/or parents receive personalized telephonic coaching (5 call intervention) from a nutrition support nurse or registered dietitian, addressing physical activity and nutritional concerns. The overall aim is to influence healthier lifestyle choices for the member and the entire family.

A total of 221 participants initiated the FFFL Coaching program in 2011, with 24% completing the program in its entirety. Positive changes in knowledge and/or self-reported behavior metrics include reading labels (73%), increase in physical activity (78%), healthy snacks (65%), low-fat foods (62%), and recognizing unhealthy triggers (38%), as observed by their respective program coaches.

Interpreting overall outcomes can be challenging. A telephonic coaching program relies heavily on self-reported data as a means of developing analysis. Obtaining BMI at the close of the last encounter was not feasible in most cases, and significant barriers to the number of initial successful coaching calls include participant availability and phone lines becoming disconnected. Nonetheless, opportunity for improvement exists. Incentives for continued participation and enhanced integration with existing resources (ex. on-line T2X intervention) are being explored in 2012. Furthermore, various qualitative aspects of the patient-provider experience were observed and addressed, such as insensitivity to a patient's weight status. Overall, a telephonic approach may be an opportune strategy to reaching multiple at-risk families.