Design of an educational strategy based on Intervention Mapping for nutritional health promotion in Child Care Centers.

Early childhood is a critical period for instilling healthy habits to prevent overweight and obesity. This paper describes the development of an educational intervention for the promotion of healthy eating and physical activity among two-to-four-year-old children in public child care centers (CCCs) in Mexico City. Following the Intervention Mapping (IM) protocol, we developed the Bright Futures multidisciplinary intervention.

Perceptions of childcare staff for preventing overweight in Mexican preschool children: A SWOT analysis.

Objective: To identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) perceived by childcare staff for preventing childhood overweight.

Material And Methods: Qualitative study using an interpretative phenomenological approach; 18 in-depth, semi-structured interviews and 12 focus groups with 89 key informants working in six Mexican public childcare centers (CCC) were conducted. Through content and SWOT analyses, experts further ranked fifty-nine recurrent perceptions regarding healthy feeding and physical activity (PA), using the Delphi method.

[Effect of an intervention based on child-care centers to reduce risk behaviors for obesity in preschool children].

Background: Preschool age is a critical stage for health promotion and prevention of obesity, which is an emerging public health problem in children. The aim of this study was to design and evaluate the effect of a multifaceted intervention based on child-care centers to reduce risk behaviors for obesity among preschool children.

Methods: A 12-month cluster-randomized community trial was conducted in 16 Mexican Institute of Social Security child-care centers in Mexico City.

Feasibility and impact of Creciendo Sanos, a clinic-based pilot intervention to prevent obesity among preschool children in Mexico City.

Background: Mexico has the highest adult overweight and obesity prevalence in the Americas; 23.8% of children <5 years old are at risk for overweight and 9.7% are already overweight or obese.

[Food preferences and nutritional status in school-age children living in Mexico City].

Background: Childhood is a basic period for the development of habits and their continuation during the course of life. The objective of this study was to identify food preferences and their variations according to the nutritional status in school-age children living in Mexico City.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out including 1465 school-age children attending eight public elementary schools in Mexico City.

Opportunities to Strengthen Childhood Obesity Prevention in Two Mexican Health Care Settings.

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine Mexican caregivers' perceptions of the role of primary care in childhood obesity management, understand the barriers and facilitators of behavior change, and identify opportunities to strengthen obesity prevention and treatment in clinical settings.

Methods: We conducted 52 in-depth interviews with parents and caregivers of overweight and obese children age 2-5 years in 4 Ministry of Health (public, low SES) and 4 Social Security Institute (insured, higher SES) primary care clinics in Mexico City and did systematic thematic analysis.

Results: In both health systems, caregivers acknowledged childhood overweight but not its adverse health consequences.

Obesity determinants in Mexican preschool children: parental perceptions and practices related to feeding and physical activity.

Background And Aims: Obesity represents a major public health problem worldwide. In Mexico, overweight and obesity have increased dramatically, affecting 26% of school-aged children. The aim of this study was to explore perceptions and practices of key obesity determinants among parents of preschool children attending child care centers.

[Health needs in marginalized urban areas in Mexico].

Objective: To understand the health needs of the population living in Mexico's marginalized urban areas.

Methods: A population-based survey of families residing in poor, urban neighborhoods, in five geographic areas in Mexico (northern, central, southern, south-east, and Mexico City), selected through multistage sampling. Interviews were conducted and anthropometric measurements were taken in the home, and included all members of the participating family.