Evaluation of a childhood obesity awareness campaign targeting Head Start families: Designed by parents for parents
Author: GreeMills, L.L.
Date Published: 2013
Abstract
The Communities for Healthy Living program used a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to empower Head Start parents in designing and pilot testing a multi-component family-centered obesity prevention program. One program component was a childhood obesity awareness campaign addressing common parental misconceptions about obesity. The campaign was designed by a community advisory board of parents to target specific issues identified within their own community. Results from pre-post intervention surveys (N=108) showed that campaign exposure was high; 92% of responding parents reported noticing the campaign. Parents also demonstrated significant increases in awareness of childhood obesity, along with decreases in obesity-related misconceptions. Findings, supported by growing literature on CBPR, suggest a CBPR approach to campaign development is an effective strategy to promote parent awareness of childhood obesity.
Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23727962