Automated Telephone Counseling for Parents of Overweight Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Background
Interactive technologies have the potential to increase the reach and frequency of practical clinical interventions that assist the parents of overweight and at-risk children to promote healthy lifestyle behaviors for their families.
Design
A practical RCT evaluated the relative effectiveness of three interventions to support parents of overweight or at-risk children to change the home environment to foster more healthful child eating and activity behaviors, thereby reducing child BMI and BMI z-scores. A secondary purpose was to determine the patterns of use and potential dose effect for the highest-intensity intervention.
Setting/participants
Parent-and-child (aged 8–12 years) dyads (N=220) who received care from Kaiser Permanente Colorado were assigned randomly to one of the three Family Connections (FC) interventions: FC-workbook, FC-group, or FC-interactive voice response (IVR) counseling.
Main outcome measures
Child BMI z-scores, as well as symptoms of eating disorders and body image, were assessed at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months.
Results
The BMI z-scores of children assigned to the FC-IVR intervention were the only ones that decreased from baseline to 6 months (0.07 SD) and from baseline to 12 months (0.08 SD, p<0.05). Children whose parents completed at least six of the ten FC-IVR counseling calls had decreased BMI z-scores to a greater extent than children in the FC-workbook or FC-group interventions at both 6 months (p<0.05) and 12 months (p<0.01). No intervention increased child symptoms of eating disorders or body dissatisfaction at any time point.
Conclusions
This trial demonstrated that automated telephone counseling can support the parents of overweight children to reduce the extent to which their children are overweight.
ABSTRACT