Transdisciplinary Program Against Childhood Obesity
Condition: Childhood Obesity
MeSH terms: Obesity; Pediatric Obesity
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcome of a 1-year transdisciplinary program
      against childhood obesity.
    

Detailed description: 
      The study was quasi-experimental with a quantitative approach.5 Epidemiologically, the study
      may be characterized as a controlled, randomized trial. Twenty participants were selected
      non-randomly from an elementary school in Fortaleza, Brazil. The parents or caretakers of the
      participants gave their informed written consent. The 20 participants were distributed
      randomly into two groups, G1 (intervention, n=10) and G2 (control, n=10). Six children did
      not complete the study protocol: three in G1 due to insufficient attendance, and three in G2
      for unspecified reasons. To be eligible for the study, children should i) be overweight or
      obese in accordance with the definition given above6, ii) be considered healthy by a
      physician after undergoing a clinical examination, iii) attend the transdisciplinary
      intervention sessions once a week (minimum attendance required: 90%) and iv) be authorized to
      participate by their parents or caretakers. The children in the control group were not
      submitted to the intervention and were not participating in any other program involving
      obesity control or supervised physical activity. All children (G1+G2) were instructed to
      maintain their habitual level of physical activity and attend the school's regular physical
      education classes. The latter were scheduled twice a month during the first term and four
      times a month during the second. The decision to increase the frequency was made by the
      school's director in acknowledgment of the importance of physical activity, but the change
      affected the two groups equally. Children were ineligible if they had chronic diseases
      (defined as diseases requiring continuous therapy), mental disorders or cognitive impairments
      which might interfere with communication, or used a pacemaker, or declined participation.
      Children in G1 missing more than 10% of the total intervention sessions were excluded from
      the sample. The study was conducted at an elementary school in Fortaleza, Brazil, maintained
      by the Edson Queiroz Foundation/UNIFOR. Data were collected at baseline in May 2013
      (pre-test) and after one year of intervention, in May 2014 (post-test), as part of the
      transdisciplinary program against childhood obesity. Children in G1 were submitted to a
      transdisciplinary intervention once a week. Each child received a nutritional education kit
      including four games ("Cool Diet", a board game, a memory game and a word search puzzle) and
      an interactive booklet containing illustrations of foods selected from the participants'
      cultural context (Northeastern Brazil). The kit was validated by Munguba. The children in the
      control group (G2) were not exposed to interventions during the study period. They attended
      the school's regular physical education classes, but were excluded from the sample if they
      joined any other physical activity or weight control program. At the end of the study, the
      children in G2 received the booklet described above, including the results of the physical
      fitness evaluation. Talks about the importance of physical activity and healthy food in this
      group were scheduled for early 2015. Upon the first visit, all participants were given a
      physical evaluation (BMI, height and waist circumference) following the procedures
      standardized by Lohman, Roche and Martorell. The body composition was determined by
      bioelectrical impedance (Bodystat 1500 MMD) upon the second visit. Upon the first, the
      children were instructed in how to prepare for the test: abstain from food and drink (4 hours
      before), exercise (12 hours before), alcohol (24 hours before) and diuretic medication (7
      days before), and urinate 30 min before the test. The subject is measured lying down, with
      electrodes attached to hands and feet. The muscular fitness assessment was based on
      FitnessGram®, a criterion-referenced test, but was limited to flexibility and abdominal
      muscle strength/endurance. The evaluation of sexual maturity was based on the age at menarche
      in girls and on armpit hair development in boys. The purpose of this evaluation was to
      identify each participant's stage of growth, development and maturity.
    

Intervention name(s): Transdisciplinary program
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: Obesity; Children; Health Colective