Dietary & Physical Activity Patterns of Latino Farmworker Children

描述（由申请人提供）：超重和肥胖在农场工人儿童中很普遍，其中绝大多数是墨西哥裔拉丁裔儿童。不幸的是，很少有系统的研究集中在农场工人儿童中儿童超重的主要决定因素-体育活动和饮食。因此，在这一健康状况各异和医疗服务不足的人群中，建立适合文化和背景的干预战略以预防或治疗儿童超重和肥胖的经验基础受到损害。拉丁裔农场工人儿童的身体活动和饮食模式基本上是一个工作家庭问题。农活的性质和农场工人的生活方式对儿童的健康生活习惯构成了重大障碍，并表现为一群已经面临健康和发育不良风险的儿童肥胖程度升高。本研究项目的目标是加强经验基础，在此基础上建立饮食和体育活动干预计划，以解决拉丁裔农场工人儿童中的超重和肥胖问题。为了实现这一目标，我们建立了一个长期的学术社区伙伴关系，重点关注农场工人家庭健康：1)记录农场工人家庭年幼（3岁）儿童的饮食和身体活动模式；2)确定导致肥胖的饮食和身体活动行为的儿童、家庭、社区和文化因素；3)确定适合文化和环境的策略，以改善拉丁裔农场工人儿童的饮食和身体活动模式。拟议项目的具体目标将通过两个不同的项目组成部分采用综合定性-定量研究设计来实现。定性项目部分包括对农场工人儿童的母亲进行深入的个人访谈（n=30），以全面了解农场工人家庭对儿童体重和肥胖的信念，以及影响儿童饮食和身体活动模式的因素。本项目组成部分的结果将有助于确定影响儿童饮食和身体活动模式的具体因素，并将为第二个项目组成部分的内容提供信息。第二个项目组成部分涉及对农场工人儿童的饮食和身体活动模式进行定量评估。将采用基于现场的抽样策略招募具有代表性的3岁农场工人儿童及其母亲样本（n=250），并在两年内每三个月进行一次评估。数据收集包括24小时饮食回顾，使用加速度计收集儿童身体活动的客观评估，以及母亲访谈。该项目的结果将为儿童的饮食和身体活动行为提供可靠的描述。它们还将有助于制定干预措施，针对特别危险的儿童，确定在有效干预措施中需要解决的具体因素，并确定实施干预措施的理想时期。公共卫生相关性：该项目侧重于年轻拉丁裔农场工人儿童的饮食和体育活动模式。农场工人儿童是一个医疗服务不足、健康状况各异的群体。该项目的结果将帮助卫生工作者更好地确定有多少农场工人儿童超重或肥胖，以及如何设计干预方案，通过在生命早期促进健康饮食和身体习惯来减少这些儿童的超重和肥胖。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Overweight and obesity is prevalent among farmworker children, the vast majority of whom are Latino of Mexican descent. Unfortunately, there has been little systematic research focused on the primary determinants of childhood overweight - physical activity and diet - among farmworker children. The empirical foundation for building culturally and contextually appropriate intervention strategies for preventing or treating childhood overweight and obesity in this health disparate and medically underserved population is therefore compromised. The physical activity and dietary patterns of Latino farmworker children is fundamentally a work-family issue. The nature of farmwork and the farmworker lifestyle poses significant barriers to healthy lifestyle habits among children, and it manifests in elevated obesity in a group of children already at risk for poor health and developmental outcomes. The goal of this research project is to strengthen the empirical foundation upon which to build diet and physical activity intervention programs to address overweight and obesity among young Latino farmworker children. To achieve this goal, we build on a long-standing academic community partnership focused on farmworker family health to: 1) document the dietary and physical activity patterns of young (3 year-old) children of farmworker families; 2) determine the child, familial, community, and cultural factors that contribute to obesigenic dietary and physical activity behavior; and 3) identify culturally and contextually appropriate strategies for improving dietary and physical activity patterns of Latino farmworker children. The proposed project's specific aims will be accomplished using an integrated qualitative-quantitative study design that will occur through two distinct project components. The qualitative project component involves in- depth personal interviews with mothers of farmworker children (n=30) to develop a comprehensive understanding of the beliefs farmworker families have about children's weight and obesity, and the factors shaping children's diet and physical activity patterns. Results of this project component will be useful in identifying the concrete factors that shape children's eating and physical activity patterns, and they will inform the content of the second project component. The second project component involves quantitative assessment of farmworker children's dietary and physical activity patterns. A representative sample of 3 year- old farmworker children and their mothers (n=250) will be recruited using a site-based sampling strategy and assessed every three months over a two year period. Data collection includes 24-hour dietary recalls, use of accelerometers for collecting objective assessments of children's physical activity, and maternal interviews. The results of this project component will provide robust descriptions of children's dietary and physical activity behavior. They will also be useful for intervention development by targeting particularly at-risk children, identifying specific factors to be addressed in effective interventions, and discerning ideal time periods for implementing interventions. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The project focuses on the dietary and physical activity patterns of young Latino farmworker children. Farmworker children are a medically underserved and health disparate population. The results of this project will help health workers better determine how many farmworker children are overweight or obese, and how to design intervention programs that reduce overweight and obesity in these children by promoting healthy diet and physical habits early in life.