Dec 09 2024 1 mins 6
Engaging parents in developing a host of text messages around healthy behaviors for infants and young children was pivotal to the success of a study showing it is possible to avoid childhood obesity. The study, co-led by Johns Hopkins pediatrics expert Eliana Perrin, kept young children on healthy weight trajectories for two years.
Perrin: We had parents helping us develop all the messages. They read all the messages, they told us what would sit well and what wouldn't sit well with parents. They told us what was practical and what wasn't practical. So on the research side and many of us are pediatricians or pediatric care providers, we know generally what we think, how to talk to parents, we know we think what's good about preventing obesity. But then you get down to individual messages and it was great that we had the parents there. :32
Perrin says the next step is full integration into pediatrics practices. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
Perrin: We had parents helping us develop all the messages. They read all the messages, they told us what would sit well and what wouldn't sit well with parents. They told us what was practical and what wasn't practical. So on the research side and many of us are pediatricians or pediatric care providers, we know generally what we think, how to talk to parents, we know we think what's good about preventing obesity. But then you get down to individual messages and it was great that we had the parents there. :32
Perrin says the next step is full integration into pediatrics practices. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
