Happy Family, Healthy Kids Program
Condition: Healthy Diet; Stress; Pediatric Obesity; Intergenerational Relations
MeSH terms: Pediatric Obesity
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Happy Family, Healthy Kids program, funded by the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, is a
      14-week healthy eating program aimed to foster "Happy Family & Healthy Kids." The program
      will target parental emotional eating through a life stress management component, and parents
      will be coached on making happy and healthy eating behavioral changes at home that will
      support their children to establish lifelong healthy eating habits. At the end of this
      project, the investigators expect to have an effective, comprehensive, and sustainable
      healthy eating program ready to expand to any Head Start center in an urban or rural setting.
    

Detailed description: 
      In Project Year 1, the program will be evaluated with about 100 Head Start children, aged 3
      to 5 years, and their parents (one parent per family) in four urban and four rural Head Start
      centers. The investigators will compare the program outcomes between urban and rural
      settings. All involved Head Start centers will support MSU staff to conduct data collection
      activities (e.g., online survey completed by parents; height, weight, and blood pressure
      measures; hair samples collected from both children and parents). MSU staff, along with Head
      Start staff, will implement the 14-week healthy eating program activities including four
      components:

        1. A 14-week parent Facebook-based program focusing on stress management and healthy eating
           to reduce emotional eating and increase parents' capacity to initiate healthy eating
           practices at home

        2. Three parent face-to-face or virtual meetings at Head Start centers to connect parents
           with each other in person, offer healthy cooking tools/classes, and discuss behavioral
           change strategies and challenges

        3. 14-week child "Eat My ABCs" program at Head Start centers to provide an age-appropriate,
           healthy eating program to children

        4. Weekly child letter to parents to connect child learning at the Head Start center with
           parental practices at home

      In Project Year 2, the investigators will finalize the program based on the evaluation
      outcomes in Project Year 1, and work closely with the participating Head Start organizations
      to disseminate the healthy eating program to all the participating Head Start centers and
      classes.
    

Intervention name(s): Happy Family, Healthy Kids Program
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): The 14-week healthy eating program activities including four components:
A 14-week parent Facebook-based program focusing on stress management and healthy eating to reduce emotional eating and increase parents' capacity to initiate healthy eating practices at home
Three parent face-to-face or virtual meetings at Head Start centers to connect parents with each other in person, offer healthy cooking tools/classes, and discuss behavioral change strategies and challenges
14-week child "Eat My ABCs" program at Head Start centers to provide an age-appropriate, healthy eating program to children
Weekly child letter to parents to connect child learning at the Head Start center with parental practices at home
Intervention model: Single Group Assignment
Intervention model description: The program will be evaluated with about 100 Head Start children, aged 3 to 5 years, and their parents (one parent per family) in four urban and three rural Head Start centers to compare the program outcomes between urban and rural settings.
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Obesity prevention; Early childhood; Intergenerational; Healthy eating; Life stress management