Search

This randomized controlled trial was conducted to assess the effectiveness of a family‐based and mobile‐assisted lifestyle intervention in reducing weight gain among school‐age children with overweight and obesity. A total of 164 school‐age children with overweight or obesity and their parents were randomized to the treatment intervention (n = 82) or an attention‐control group (n = 82). The treatment intervention included three face‐to‐face education sessions, augmented by monthly text messages sent to parents on their mobile devices. The primary outcome was child BMI‐for‐age z‐score. Secondary outcomes included child BMI, percent body fat, and actigraphy‐assessed sleep as well as parental sleep quality. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months after the intervention, with treatment effects analyzed using general linear models for repeated measures. Our results showed that children in the treatment intervention group had significantly lower BMI‐for‐age z score, BMI, and percent body fat than did those in the control group, with an adjusted mean difference of 0.31 units (95% CI: −0.59 to −0.03; p = 0.03), 1.34 kg/m² (95% CI, −2.42 to −0.26; p = 0.01), and 3.12% (95% CI, −5.93 to −0.30; p = 0.03), respectively. No treatment effects were observed for child and parental sleep. Our findings suggest that family‐based and mobile‐assisted lifestyle intervention results in significant and sustained benefits to enhanced weight management for school‐age children with overweight and obesity. Nurses planning and delivering childhood overweight and obesity treatment interventions should consider a family‐based approach with the assistance of mobile devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This cross‐sectional study examined sleep disturbance associations between parents and their school‐age children with overweight and obesity. A 7‐day wrist‐worn actigraph recording was performed on 246 children aged 6–9 years with overweight and obesity recruited from 10 public elementary schools in Taipei, Taiwan. Children's sleep disturbance was assessed using the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire. Parental subjective sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, with parental depressive symptoms measured using the Epidemiologic Studies‐Depression Scale. General linear models were used to examine sleep disturbance associations within parent‐child dyads. The results showed that 208 (84.6%) children had a clinically significant sleep disturbance score, and 123 (50%) parents had poor sleep quality. Higher children's sleep disturbance scores significantly predicted poorer parental sleep quality (b = 0.11, p < 0.001). Poorer parental sleep quality was associated with more severe sleep disturbances in children (b = 0.46, p < 0.001). This association was independent of children's actigraphic sleep (all p > 0.05) and was not attenuated by adjustment for parental depressive symptoms (b = 0.14, p < 0.001). Findings from our study suggest that sleep disturbances occur in both parents and their school‐age children with overweight and obesity, with a significant bidirectional association between the two. Nurses and healthcare professionals should proactively assess and screen for sleep disturbances in parent‐child dyads of children with overweight and obesity. Future studies should develop family‐based sleep interventions and evaluate their effects on the sleep, health, and well‐being of children with overweight and obesity and their parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To examine the association of the timing and consistency of parent bedtime routines with infant night‐time sleep duration and variability. Design: This was a prospective observational study conducted between November 2012 and November 2016. Methods: Three hundred and twenty healthy 6‐month‐old infants were recruited from the well‐child clinics of a university‐affiliated hospital in northern Taiwan. Participating families provided sociodemographic, health and bedtime routine information. Infants wore an actigraph on the ankle for a week. General linear model analysis was performed with the frequency and timing of bedtime routines treated as the primary predictor variables of interest. Results: One hundred and ninety‐seven (61.6%) parents started the bedtime routine for infants after 9 PM, with 162 (50.6%) not having the exact same bedtime routine every night. In both crude and adjusted analyses, starting a bedtime routine after 9 PM was associated with shorter infant night‐time sleep duration (b = −23.55, p < 0.01). Infants with a bedtime routine of <3–4 nights per week were associated with more variable night‐time sleep duration than a bedtime routine of 5–6 nights per week (b = −7.81, p < 0.05) or every night (b = −8.47, p < 0.05). Conclusion: A bedtime routine of at least 5 nights a week and initiated no later than 9 PM was associated with longer and less variable night‐time sleep in infancy. Findings suggest that a consistent bedtime routine implemented in accordance with age‐appropriate bedtimes should be addressed as part of anticipatory guidance in the well‐child clinics. Future studies should include infant sleep variability as an outcome in addition to the conventional mean‐level sleep variable analyses to more thoroughly characterize bedtime routine effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]