Preventing childhood obesity through a family-based mindfulness intervention

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Childhood obesity is a serious public health problem. Childhood obesity is associated with obesity in adulthood and increased risk for diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers. Notably, obesity is particularly common in low-income ethnic minority children and children of obese parents. Preschool-aged children (aged 2-5 years) are just beginning to form patterns of eating and physical activity (PA) preferences and so this is an ideal age to target in prevention programs, particularly family-based programs which can improve food and activity choices offered to young children at home. Significant basic research indicates parent stress as a risk factor for child obesity. This risk may be exacerbated in low-income families who face multiple chronic stressors. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is an empirically-supported treatment that reduces stress in adults. However, the potential effects of MBSR on parent stress and child obesity have not been tested. The goal of the proposed study is to test initial feasibility and obtain effect sizes for a parenting-focused version of MBSR plus nutrition and physical activity counseling to reduce parent stress and prevent obesity in at-risk 2-5 year olds from low-income urban families. We hypothesize that MBSR plus nutrition and PA counseling (MBSR+N) for parents will decrease parent stress, improve parenting, increase healthy eating and PA, and prevent obesity in children of highly stressed low-income obese parents. The proposed study brings together a multidisciplinary team of experts in child development, behavioral interventions for obesity, pediatric endocrinology, nutrition, and exercise physiology to pilot test the feasibility and initial efficac of MBSR+N in an urban community-based clinic. 60 overweight parents of 2-5 year olds reporting high stress levels will be recruited from a child guidance clinic serving a low-income urban community. Parents will be randomly assigned to receive either an 8 week MBSR+N intervention (based on the MBSR plus nutrition and PA intervention for adults developed by Dr. Sinha, co-PI) or to a contact control+N group. At pre- and post-intervention and at a 6 month and 1 year follow-up, we will collect questionnaire, clinical interview, and biological measures of parent and child stress (including cortisol response to a laboratory stressor), parenting, parent and child eating behavior and PA, and child BMI percentile scores. We will also collect data on parent BMI and metabolic variables (e.g., glucose). We will assess feasibility and acceptability of MBSR+N and will test initial intervention effects and determine effect sizes to plan for an adequately- powered long-term efficacy trial of MBSR+N. The study will provide: 1. Initial efficacy data for MBSR+N, 2. Pilot data for a R01 proposal to conduct a large long-term trial of MBSR+N, 3. Evidence of acceptability of MBSR+N in a real-world community clinic setting, and 4. Longitudinal data on the development of obesity in at-risk children. If effective, MBSR+N could be a novel strategy to reduce stress and obesity in high risk adults and simultaneously prevent overweight/obesity in their young children.