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Title: An interactive parents' guide for feeding preschool-aged children: pilot studies for improvement

Author
item REZNAR, MELISSA - Oakland University
item CARLSON, JOHN - Michigan State University
item HUGHES, SHERYL - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item PAVANGADKAR, AMOL - Michigan State University
item SCOTT, MARCI - Michigan Fitness Foundation
item HOERR, SHARON - Michigan State University

Submitted to: Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/12/2013
Publication Date: 2/7/2014
Citation: Reznar, M.M., Carlson, J.S., Hughes, S.O., Pavangadkar, A.S., Scott, M.K., Hoerr, S.L. 2014. An interactive parents' guide for feeding preschool-aged children: pilot studies for improvement. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. 114(5):788-795.

Interpretive Summary: Few materials currently exist for low-income families that are focused on feeding strategies to reduce the risk of overweight and obesity in preschoolers. This study was designed to develop an interactive parents guide for feeding preschool-aged children based on our current knowledge of strategies that help to reduce childhood obesity. Through an iterative process of development and revisions, a guide was developed that included a checklist of mealtime behaviors and learning activities was shown to be accepted by parents through extensive evaluations. Because this guide meets the unique needs of low-income families, it will be useful in interventions designed to reduce overweight and obesity in low-income families with preschoolers.

Technical Abstract: There are few motivational materials to help families with limited resources develop optimal, practical feeding strategies for young children to reduce dietary risk for poor diet and weight status. Formative evaluation strategies consisting of both qualitative and quantitative data helped to refine the parent feeding guide "Eat Healthy, Your Children are Watching: A Parent's Guide to Raising a Healthy Eater". An interdisciplinary planning team developed a five-topic, multimedia, interactive guide addressing the strategies most associated with improved diet quality and weight status of children aged 3 to 5 years. Research staff conducted iterative phases of field testing, reformatting, in-depth interviews, and materials testing with Head Start or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programe Education caregivers of children aged 3 to 5 years during 2011 and 2012. Convergence of feedback from caregivers' interviews and each booklet's attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction subscale scores were used to determine and affirm areas for improvement. Lower than desired attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction scores in 2011 and too much text resulted in revisions and reformatting that improved scores from 3.8 to 4.9 in 2012. The revision of materials to reflect less text, additional white space, checklists of mealtime behaviors, and learning activities for preschool-aged children resulted in dramatically improved materials and greater acceptance by parents, as shown by both quantitative and qualitative evaluations. Formative evaluation procedures involving the use of data-based decision making allowed for the development of intervention materials that met the unique needs of the population served.