Evaluation of A Family Centered Obesity Intervention Program

Abstract

With 25-30% of children in the United States identified as obese, childhood obesity represents a serious health problem in the country. Historically weight-loss effort among adults remains a difficult task, and early intervention in problematic childhood eating habits may be more successful in curbing obesity and in preventing its continuing into the adult years. The objective of this study was to evaluate the FIT KIDS™ program at Egleston Children's Hospital in Atlanta, GA. We compared the outcome effect in behavior and attitude of families who participated in all or part of the program.The FIT KIDS™ program is a health enhancement program designed especially for above-average-weight children and their parents. The goal is to help children increase physical activity, increase family knowledge of healthy eating, and improve self-esteem. As the prevalence of childhood obesity has increased over the past several decades, so has the need for effective treatment and intervention programs. The efficacy of intervention programs must be established to justify their existence and utilization.In order to determine the effectiveness of the class, we compared the test scores of the families who completed the course (completers) to those families attending less than 5 of 8 classes (non-completers). Results indicate that completers scored more favorably on the evaluation test than those families not completing the course. We found that 49% of the parents completing the course scored above a 12, indicating success, and only 24% of the non-completers scored a 12 or greater. For the children's test, 70% of those completing the classes were successful and only 47% of the non-completers were successful. Significantly more families Who completed the FIT KIDS™ showed higher levels of self-esteem, heaft% eating behaviors, and physical activity. Our findings indicating the FIT KIDS™ program at Egleston Children's Hospital is an effective family centered obesity intervention program.