American journal of preventive medicine
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The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) required major revisions to food packages in 2009; effects on nationwide low-income household purchases remain unexamined. ⋯ WIC food package revisions appear associated with improved nutritional profiles of food purchases among WIC participating households compared with low-income nonparticipating households. These package revisions may encourage WIC families to make healthier choices among their overall packaged food purchases.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Pragmatic Clinical Trial
A Randomized Trial of Weight Change in a National Home Visiting Program.
Clinical trials have demonstrated significant impact in reducing weight and incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, the intensity of these trials limits their scalability to real world settings. The purpose of this study was to embed a lifestyle intervention for overweight and obese mothers within the routine practice of a parent education, home visiting organization. ⋯ HEALTH achieved modest but clinically significant weight loss outcomes, and reduced weight gain in mothers of young children. The scalability of this embedded intervention offers the potential to reach mothers in Parents As Teachers programs nationally.
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Women from lower-income backgrounds have the highest rates of obesity. Thus, effective programs for this high-risk population are urgently needed. Evidence suggests that adding financial incentives to treatment helps to engage and promote health behavior change in lower-income populations; however, this has never been tested in women for obesity treatment. The purpose of this study was to examine whether adding small financial incentives to Internet weight loss treatment yields better weight loss outcomes in women from lower-income backgrounds compared with the same treatment without incentives. Weight losses in lower-versus higher-income women were also compared. ⋯ An Internet behavioral weight loss program plus financial incentives may be an effective strategy to promote excellent weight losses in women with lower income, thereby enhancing equity in treatment outcomes in a vulnerable, high-risk population. These data also provide important evidence to support federally funded incentive initiatives for lower-income, underserved populations.
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Rising rates of childhood obesity over the past 2 decades have spurred a number of public- and private-sector initiatives aimed at halting or even reversing this trend. Recognizing common interests in this issue, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NIH, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation began conversations about creating a formal collaboration aimed at accelerating efforts to address childhood obesity by coordinating research agendas and providing support for evidence-building activities. The National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR) was launched in February 2009, and the U. ⋯ Department of Agriculture joined in 2010. Using the model provided by other previously successful collaborations, such as the Youth Tobacco Cessation Collaborative, NCCOR has emphasized several principles suggested by Petrovich as key elements for successful partnerships: (1) delineate a common purpose by identifying key knowledge gaps in the field; (2) create a shared identity around that common purpose; (3) develop structures for democratic and respectful collaboration so as to strategically coordinate efforts for maximum national impact; (4) identify effective leaders capable of articulating challenges in the field and inspiring a commitment of minds and the resolve to address identified needs; (5) facilitate continuous knowledge exchange and synthesis to keep the field informed; and (6) support assessment of progress and feedback loops for ensuring continual progress. This paper examines how NCCOR has used these principles to help build the field of research, evaluation, and surveillance for childhood obesity prevention and management.