Childhood obesity prevention: an intervention targeting primary caregivers of school children.

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) was used to design and evaluate the effectiveness of a culturally relevant, science-based intervention for the prevention of childhood obesity in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a US Commonwealth in the western Pacific. This cognitive behavioral lifestyle intervention, Project Familia Giya Marianas (PFGM), was offered during the 2005-2007 school years in all CNMI public elementary schools over eight sessions to primary caregivers of 3rd grade children (N = 407). A crossover design was utilized with half of the schools offering the intervention in the Fall term, while the other half delivered the sessions in the Spring term.

Food, culture, and family: exploring the coordinated management of meaning regarding childhood obesity.

Increased rates of childhood obesity combined with more accessible information about the relationship between diet, physical activity and inactivity, and chronic diseases suggest the need for analyzing the complex process of receiving and transmitting messages related to child feeding practices. This study examined the perceptions of childhood obesity within 1 multiethnic community, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. In particular, through the use of focus groups, individuals indicated that sociocultural, familial, and official nutritional messages were most influential to their health care behaviors.

Prevention of childhood obesity: sociocultural and familial factors.

This study examined sociocultural and familial factors related to the prevention of childhood obesity. Primary caregivers of 6- to 10-year-old children representing several ethnic populations in Saipan participated in 4 focus groups (N=32). Trained moderators used semi-structured interviews and qualitative methods were used in data analysis.