1. Child Health Promotion in Underserved Communities: The FAMILIA Trial.
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Fernandez-Jimenez, Rodrigo, Jaslow, Risa, Bansilal, Sameer, Santana, Maribel, Diaz-Munoz, Raquel, Latina, Jacqueline, Soto, Ana V., Vedanthan, Rajesh, Al-Kazaz, Mohamed, Giannarelli, Chiara, Kovacic, Jason C., Bagiella, Emilia, Kasarskis, Andrew, Fayad, Zahi A., Hajjar, Roger J., and Fuster, Valentin
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CHILDREN'S health , *HEALTH promotion , *PRESCHOOL children , *COMMUNITY-based programs , *EDUCATIONAL standards , *PHYSICAL activity - Abstract
Background: Preschool-based interventions offer promise to instill healthy behaviors in children, which can be a strategy to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease later. However, their efficacy in underserved communities is not well established.Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of a preschool-based health promotion educational intervention in an underserved community.Methods: This cluster-randomized controlled study involved 15 Head Start preschools in Harlem, New York. Schools and their children were randomized 3:2 to receive either a 4-month (50 h) educational intervention to instill healthy behaviors in relation to diet, physical activity, body/heart awareness, and emotion management; or their standard curriculum (control). The primary outcome was the change from baseline in the overall knowledge, attitudes, and habits (KAH) score of the children at 5 months. As secondary outcomes, we evaluated the changes in KAH subcomponents and emotion comprehension. Linear mixed-effects models were used to test for intervention effects.Results: The authors enrolled 562 preschool children age 3 to 5 years, 51% female, 54% Hispanic/Latino, and 37% African-American. Compared with the control group, the mean relative change from baseline in the overall KAH score was ∼2.2 fold higher in the intervention group (average absolute difference of 2.86 points; 95% confidence interval: 0.58 to 5.14; p = 0.014). The maximal effect was observed in children who received >75% of the curriculum. Physical activity and body/heart awareness components, and knowledge and attitudes domains, were the main drivers of the effect (p values <0.05). Changes in emotion comprehension trended toward favoring intervened children.Conclusions: This multidimensional school-based educational intervention may be an effective strategy for establishing healthy behaviors among preschoolers from a diverse and socioeconomically disadvantaged community. Early primordial prevention strategies may contribute to reducing the global burden of cardiovascular disease. (Family-Based Approach in a Minority Community Integrating Systems-Biology for Promotion of Health [FAMILIA]; NCT02343341). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2019
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