Peer‐education About Weight Steadiness (PAWS Club): Pilot Test of Family Menu Planning Lesson for Parents and their Young Adolescents
Authors: Nikolaus Cassandra J , Liguori Carli A , Winslow April N , Nickols‐Richardson Sharon M 
Published: November 2023

School‐aged children exceed recommendations for intake of refined grains and foods containing solid fats and added sugars. This dietary pattern contributes to excess energy intake and inadequate intake of fiber and nutrients of concern. Peer interaction has been shown to influence childhood behaviors. Programs have successfully utilized peer leaders to influence participant behaviors when focused on discouraging tobacco and alcohol abuse. However, peer education is a novel approach for obesity prevention/weight maintenance in young adolescents. The objective of this pilot study was to evaluate the effects of a workshop focused on family menu planning in families with young adolescents, and compare the efficacy of an adult‐led to a teen‐led mode of education. Families with 11–14 year old adolescents were recruited from the Champaign‐Urbana, IL area, using convenience sampling techniques, and 15 families consented (15 parents, 17 adolescents) to participate. Participants were randomly assigned to an adult‐led workshop (ALW) group or a teen‐led workshop (TLW) group. Both adult and teen leaders received identical training on lesson curriculum for approximately three hours before leading workshops. Families in both groups attended one 75‐minute session with other families. Parents and adolescents were assessed pre‐ and post‐lesson with explorative, investigator‐designed surveys; results of surveys measuring menu‐planning related self‐efficacy (score=0–5) and knowledge (score=0–5) are presented here. Score differences over time were assessed using Wilcoxon Signed‐Rank and Student's t‐tests, and interactions of group and time were explored using ANOVA. Analyses were conducted using SAS software (version 9.4, 2011, SAS Institute Inc). Participating families were primarily non‐Hispanic (93.3%) and Caucasian (80%); parents were an average of 45.4 (±4.2 [SD]) years old and teens were an average age of 12.2 (±1.0) years old. Teens in the TLW (n=11) increased self‐efficacy [0.5±0.5 (mean±SD), P<0.05], while teens in the ALW (n=5) did not (0.6±0.6, P>0.05). Parents in the ALW increased self‐efficacy more than those in the TLW (1.0±0.5 vs. 0.4±0.3, P<0.05). Neither teens nor parents had knowledge changes after attending the TLW or ALW (P>0.05). However, when family knowledge scores were averaged, family knowledge scores decreased after the TLW (−0.5±0.6, P<0.05). Positive change in self‐efficacy for some of the participants is promising as an indicator of potential behavior change. The self‐efficacy results, where only teens in the TLW had significant increases and the adults in the ALW had significantly more increases than adults in the TLW, indicate that the respective peer‐led model impacted participants. Decreases in overall family knowledge was an unforeseen circumstance of the TLW and may be an indication that an audience including parents and teens or the family menu planning construct may be a difficult concept for teen educators to appropriately convey. Further pilot testing of factors that influence the efficacy of peer‐led education, such as training quality or construct difficulty, are necessary.

Support or Funding Information

This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2012‐68001‐22032.