Childhood obesity prevention in rural settings: background, rationale, and study design of ‘4-Health,’ a parent-only intervention

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-12-255

BMC Public Health. 2012; 12: 255.

Published online 2012 April 2. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-255

PMCID: PMC3404898

Childhood obesity prevention in rural settings: background, rationale, and study design of ‘4-Health,’ a parent-only intervention

Wesley C Lynch,¹ Jill Martz,² Galen Eldridge,³ Sandra J Bailey,⁴ Carrie Benke,⁵ and Lynn Paul⁶

¹Department of Psychology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, 59717-3440, USA

²4-H Center for Youth Development, Montana State University Extension, 203 Taylor Hall, Bozeman, MT, 59717-2230, USA

³Montana State University Extension, Department of Health and Human Development, 314 Herrick Hall, Bozeman, MT, 59717-2230, USA

⁴Montana State University Extension, Department of Health & Human Development, 316B Herrick Hall, Bozeman, MT, 59717-2230, USA

⁵Montana State University Extension, 314 Herrick Hall, Bozeman, MT, 59717-2230, USA

⁶Montana State University Extension, Department of Health and Human Development, 101 Romney, PO Box 173370, Bozeman, MT, 59717-3370, USA

Corresponding author.

Wesley C Lynch: wlynch/at/montana.edu; Jill Martz: jmartz/at/montana.edu; Galen Eldridge: galen.eldridge/at/montana.edu; Sandra J Bailey: baileys/at/montana.edu; Carrie Benke: carrie.benke/at/montana.edu; Lynn Paul: lpaul/at/montana.edu

Received January 25, 2012; Revised March 15, 2012; Accepted April 2, 2012.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Background

Childhood obesity in rural communities is a serious but understudied problem. The current experiment aims to assess a wide range of obesity risk factors among rural youth and to offer an 8-month intervention program for parents to reduce obesity risk in their preteen child.

Methods/Design

A two-group, repeated measures design is used to assess the effectiveness of the 4-Health intervention program. Assessments include anthropometric measures, child self-evaluations, parent self-evaluations, and parent evaluations of child. County Extension agents from 21 rural Montana counties recruit approximately 150 parent–child dyads and counties are semi-randomly assigned to the active intervention group (4-Health Educational Program) or a “best-practices” (Healthy Living Information) control group.

Discussion

This study will shed light on the effectiveness of this parent-only intervention strategy in reducing obesity risk factors among rural preteens. The 4-Health program is designed to provide information and skills development for busy rural parents that will increase healthy lifestyles of their preteen children and improve the parents’ ability to intervene effectively in the lives of their families during this critical developmental period.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT01510587

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