Family-Based Hip-Hop to Health: Outcome Results

This pilot study tested the feasibility of Family-Based Hip-Hop to Health, a school-based obesity prevention intervention for 3–5 year old Latino children and their parents, and estimated its effectiveness in producing smaller average changes in body mass index at one year follow-up. Four Head Start preschools administered through the Chicago Public Schools were randomly assigned to receive a Family-Based Intervention (FBI) or a General Health intervention (GHI). Parents signed consent forms for 147 of the 157 children enrolled. Both the school-based and family-based components of the intervention were feasible, but attendance for the parent intervention sessions was low. Contrary to expectations, a downtrend in BMI Z score was observed in both the intervention and control groups. While the data reflect a downward trend in obesity among these young Hispanic children, obesity rates remained higher at one-year follow-up (15%) than those reported by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2009–2010) for 2–5 year old children (12.1%). Developing evidence-based strategies for obesity prevention among Hispanic families remains a challenge.