New Ulm at HOME (Healthy Offerings Via the Mealtime Environment), NU-HOME
Condition: Obesity, Childhood; Physical Activity; Food Intake; Rural Health
MeSH terms: Pediatric Obesity
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The goal of the proposed project is to see if an innovative family-based intervention can
      reduce childhood obesity by actively engaging the whole family in promoting healthy behaviors
      in the home. In addition, the project will also examine how the NU-HOME family intervention
      influences children's dietary intake, availability of healthy and unhealthy foods in the home
      and served at meals and snacks, physical activity as a family, and child screen time (TV,
      game systems). The study will build upon a similar project conducted in an urban area and
      translate the lessons learned and adapt the program for a rural community.
    

Detailed description: 
      Childhood obesity is a serious public health problem. Although previous environmental
      approaches to obesity prevention show some promise, most studies have not shown excess weight
      gain reductions. Moreover, few childhood obesity prevention studies significantly engage
      parents or focus on the home environment, which is essential to promote healthy behaviors at
      home. Children in rural communities are particularly vulnerable regarding increased risk for
      obesity; thus, successful programs that engage families in rural communities to prevent
      excess weight gain are critical. The proposed research project, New Ulm at Home (NU-HOME), is
      a unique collaboration between leaders in a rural community (New Ulm, Minnesota) and
      successful academic obesity researchers. The residents of New Ulm are poised for and are
      requesting interventions to promote healthful behavior change, particularly for youth. In
      conjunction with our many community stakeholder groups, the objective of the proposed
      research is to test the effectiveness of the NU-HOME program, a 7-month, family-based health
      promotion intervention to prevent excess weight gain (assessed via BMI z-score) among 7-10
      year old children (n=114) in the New Ulm rural community. The intervention program is based
      on Social Cognitive Theory and a socio-ecological framework and will focus on novel health
      promotion components to prevent childhood obesity, including: 1) promoting regular meals in
      which family members cook and eat together (i.e., family meals), 2) promoting
      nutritionally-sound and appropriately-portioned snacks and meals, 3) reducing sedentary
      behavior, particularly screen time in the home setting, and 4) promoting physical activity
      through collaboration with community partners. The NU-HOME study is designed in four stages,
      including substantial formative work between the academic and community partners, a two-arm
      randomized controlled trial (RCT; intervention and wait-list control), and two activities to
      facilitate sustainability (delayed intervention delivery for control group participants and
      dissemination). A community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach will be used to
      adapt an existing program, HOME Plus that was piloted and shown to be effective in urban
      communities. The NU-HOME program has high translation potential and is likely to be
      immediately useful to rural families of school-age children because it will be tested in a
      real-world setting in collaboration with engaged, knowledgeable and influential community
      partners.
    

Intervention name(s): NU-HOME Intervention
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): The NU-HOME family intervention program consists of seven monthly group sessions, individual goal setting calls and online materials to support the sessions. The intervention focuses on promoting healthful family meals where parents and children cook and eat together, healthful home food and physical activity environments, and being active together as a family.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: family meals; home food availability