Raising Well at Home: a pre-post feasibility study of a lifestyle intervention for caregivers and their child with obesity

BACKGROUND: Few efficacious pediatric obesity interventions have been successfully translated and sustained in real-world practice, often due to inadequate fit with the priorities of under-resourced populations. Lifestyle interventions, which incorporate tailoring of essential weight loss ingredients and adaptation of mode and intensity to the living circumstances of children with obesity, are needed. The purpose of this pilot study was to test the feasibility and efficacy of a tailored lifestyle intervention for caregivers and their children with obesity, conducted in partnership with Envolve, Inc., a family of comprehensive health solutions and wholly owned subsidiary of Centene Corporation. METHODS: This 6-month pilot study employed a pretest-posttest design to assess the impact of a tailored lifestyle intervention delivered by peer coaches on (a) caregiver and child weight impacted by changes in dietary intake, walking, and screen time; (b) changes in the home environment; and (c) caregiver engagement and satisfaction. The intervention was delivered via 3 core home visits every 4–6 weeks, with additional support via text. RESULTS: The majority of caregivers were female (95.2%) and Black (73.7%). Children had median age of 11.1 years and majority were female (57.6%), with a median BMI near the 99th percentile (Mdn 98.8, IQR 3.5) or 118.3% (IQR 35.8) of the 95th percentile for their sex and age. Participants expressed high satisfaction with the program (mean range 96.7–100.0% agreement on satisfaction items). From baseline to post, caregivers’ BMI decreased by 1.8% (p = 0.016, r = 0.22), while children’s BMI percentile z-score decreased significantly (p = 0.023, r = 0.18) and BMI percent of the 95th percentile remained constant (p = 0.05, r = 0.15). Caregivers and children decreased sugar-sweetened beverage intake (p = 0.026, r = 0.22; p = 0.006, r = 0.23, respectively), reduced presence of soda in the home (p = 0.002, g = 0.43), and decreased screen time (p = 0.046, g = 0.22). Other eating and walking behaviors remained stable for caregivers and child. CONCLUSION: The Raising Well at Home pilot demonstrated that tailored lifestyle interventions, delivered by peer coaches in the home and via text, are feasible and can improve weight, eating, and environmental measures of caregivers and children with obesity. Future work should determine the effectiveness, sustainability, and scalability of this intervention in sites located across the country. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04224623). Registered 9 January 2020—retrospectively registered.