Effectiveness of the Children's Healthy Living (CHL) Multilevel Multicomponent Community Intervention Program in 5 US affiliated Pacific Jurisdictions

Abstract

The Children's Healthy Living (CHL) program, a collaboration among Pacific Land Grant Colleges, was developed and implemented with 27 communities across the US affiliated Pacific region in a 24 month community randomized intervention trial to prevent young child obesity. The multilevel, multisite, community‐based intervention consisted of 4 cross‐cutting functions (initiate or strengthen school wellness policies; partner and advocate for environmental change; promote CHL messages; and local capacity building) with 20 activities addressing 6 targeted behaviors (physical activity, sedentary behavior, sleep, fruit and vegetable intake, sugar sweetened beverage intake, and water intake). A common intervention template and outcome measures were developed and implemented; IRB approval or ceding of approval was obtained at each of the 5 collaborating institutions. Controlling for age and sex of 2–10 year old children and accounting for the randomization units and clustering, the CHL intervention communities had significant changes in the following variables compared to control communities: prevalence of acanthosis nigricans (change of −0.1% vs +0.2%), child overweight plus obesity (−3.0% vs +1.7%), child waist circumference (+0.2cm vs +9cm), and daily screen time (−2.4min vs +3.0mins). Accelerometry and food related variables (fruit and vegetable intake, sugar sweetened beverage intake, water intake) are still being analyzed. The results indicate that community‐based multilevel multi‐component interventions can impact young child overweight and obesity and related behaviors and conditions.Support or Funding InformationUSDA/NIFA grant 2011‐68001‐30335