Mixed Methods Evaluation of a Community-Based Weight Management Program for Latino Children

Purpose: To describe acceptability, feasibility, and preliminary effectiveness of a community-based weight management program for overweight/obese Latino children in immigrant families. Design: Mixed methods evaluation of an exploratory single-arm pragmatic intervention trial. Setting: Community sites in Maryland and Colorado. Sample: Latino immigrant families with 5-12-year-old overweight/obese children with 93 participants (39 index children, their parents and siblings). Intervention: Community Active and Healthy Families, an adaptation of an evidence- and behavioral-theory based, culturally tailored weight management program delivered in Spanish. Measures: (1) Height and weight; (2) Surveys of sociodemographics, diet, and physical activity (PA) and (3) Parent/child interviews. Analysis: (1) Pre and post means, standard deviations, differences in means and the P-value of the difference. (2) Thematic analysis of interviews. Results: Mean index child age was 9.8 years. Mean change in %BMI_p95 was −2.24 (7.49), P = 0.12. Families attended a mean of 4.5/8 program sessions. Interviews with 15 parents and 5 children demonstrated program content was acceptable, and both parent/child respondents reported liking the hands-on learning activities and child PA time. Parents reported making some recommended dietary changes and increased physical activity via family outings. Barriers to change included fresh food costs, child diet preferences and time. Conclusion: Our evaluation demonstrated a preliminary signal of effectiveness, acceptability and feasibility of Community Active and Healthy Families demonstrating readiness for a larger-scale implementation and effectiveness trial.