Keywords:
Obesity, Healthy Eating and Lifestyle Program, mothers, intervention, change
Abstract:
With more than one in four Australian children overweight or obese, and the significant risks this poses for health problems like asthma, depression, diabetes and heart disease, finding effective treatments for childhood obesity is rapidly becoming a national priority.
As part of the effort in this area, we have implemented a community-based intervention helping families manage weight and eating issues.
Our evidence-based Healthy Eating and Lifestyle Program (HELP) applies cognitive behavioural principles to the problem, focusing on the mother's role in her child's weight management.
Despite substantial effort to market our program, the response was minimal with only a handful of people ever making email or phone inquiries about participating.
Consequently, we have been unable to deliver the ten-session HELP program.
What does our experience and subsequent research tell us about interventions for childhood obesity targeting mothers?
First, it reinforces the point that having an evidence-based intervention is only part of the solution to addressing childhood obesity.
Second, it highlights that we know far too little about how we might encourage time-poor mothers to embark on a journey of personal and family level behaviour change that they may find threatening and difficult.