Parent adoption and implementation of obesity prevention practices through building children's asking skills at family child care homes

Abstract Background Early childhood education programs provide a setting to reach children and parents to modify home environments to prevent obesity. The Healthy Opportunities for Physical Activity and Nutrition Home (HOP’N) Home project was a novel approach that linked Family Child Care Homes (FCCH) to home environments by developing children’s asking skills for healthful home environmental change through curricular activities. Objective To evaluate the feasibility of engaging parents in obesity prevention practices through building children's asking skills at FCCH. Methods FCCHs (n = 5 settings) and children (n = 25; aged 3−5 years; female = 36 %; non-Hispanic white = 91 %; low socioeconomic status = 28 %; overweight/obese = 52 %) and parents (n = 25) participated in a pre-post cohort design. We assessed children's body mass index and self-report variables at three time points. HOP'N Home included continuous staff training, group time, dramatic play, meal prompts, songs, and home activities. Results FCCH providers implemented 83%–100% of intervention activities. All parents (100 %) adopted the program, most (87 %) returned completed homework activities to FCCHs, and over 90 % implemented changes in the home. Percent of overweight/obese children decreased from pre-intervention (50 %) to post-intervention (29 %,p = 0.06) and follow-up (38 %,p = 0.06). Conclusions It is feasible to build children's asking skills and pair this strategy with home activities to engage parents to prevent obesity.