Scaling up Building Healthy Families in Rural Areas and Small Towns
University of Utah
Summary
Evidence-based interventions for childhood obesity (EBI-CO) can improve children's weight status, but families in rural areas and small cities have limited access to the interdisciplinary healthcare teams recommended to deliver EBI-CO. To address this issue, the investigators adapted an EBI-CO, Building Healthy Families (BHF), which includes all materials and training resources necessary for rural program implementation. The pilot study found that when paired with opportunities to learn from the program developers and other community implementation teams, the packaged program led to effective delivery across 4 rural communities. This scale-up study will compare packaged BHF Resources with and without a learning collaborative facilitation strategy, examining outcomes including reach, effectiveness, implementation, and potential for sustainability in rural areas.
Description
The investigators propose a community-level randomized controlled trial to determine the relative utility of providing an online training and resource package to support the planning, implementation, and sustainability of an evidence-based childhood obesity treatment intervention (EBI-CO), with and without participation in a systems-based action learning collaborative, to improve reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance (RE-AIM) in rural areas, small towns, or other low-resourced communities. Twenty percent of the U.S. population lives in micropolitan (cities \<50,000)…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 5+ years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Communities must respond to a call for proposals by submitting a letter of intent and a brief narrative describing the local need for BHF and readiness for implementation. Community eligibility for this trial includes: * Any community is eligible to apply for the competitive BHF RFA process; * BHF RFA scoring prioritizes community narratives that meet the following criteria: (1)Childhood obesity prevention and treatment are a priority health concern; (2) Communities and community-based organizations located in rural, frontier, or micropolitan areas, and/or that provide services to families fr…
Interventions
- BehavioralBuilding Healthy Families Program
Building Healthy Families (BHF) is an evidence-based, family-based weight management program designed for children aged 5-13 who are overweight or obese and their parents or caregivers. Family-based weight management programs focus on creating a supportive, positive environment for lifestyle behavior change that promotes healthy growth and development. BHF is a group-based program, and education sessions focus on healthy eating, physical activity, and lifestyle modification for the entire family. The BHF Program consists of 12 weekly education sessions (\~2 hours each) and 6 relapse-prevention refresher sessions over 1 year (12 months total). The BHF program meets the current recommendations for intensive health behavior and lifestyle treatment (IHBLT) programs from professional groups, and BHF is a recommended program for community adoption and implementation.
Location
- University of UtahSalt Lake City, Utah