Parent-Perceived Important Topics for Childhood Obesity (PPITCH)

NIH RePORTER · NIH · R03 · $96,891 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT It is recommended that obesity counseling happen during pediatric primary care visits, but it is often infeasible to address all recommended health and wellness topics (e.g. assessment of nutrition and physical activity habits, motivational interviewing, setting goals) in the context of a 20-minute well child visit. Moreover, brief counseling is unlikely to engage high-risk families who are particularly unlikely to engage in behavior change due to cultural norms, low health literacy, and competing caregiving priorities. Best-worst scaling (BWS) is a structured, survey-based approach that has been used to efficiently quantify patient preferences and priorities regarding healthcare decisions while avoiding extreme response and social desirability biases. In this study, we propose developing and fielding a best-worst scaling survey to identify and prioritize the characteristics of obesity that parents care most about. We can therefore weed out lower priority issues that would not influence a decision from health communication messaging. We hypothesize that focusing risk communication on the specific obesity-related issues that are important to parents may catalyze more parents of children with obesity to engage in behavior change to address their child’s weight status and when indicated, to engage in childhood obesity treatment programs.

Key facts

NIH application ID
10180049
Project number
1R03HL156883-01
Recipient
HARVARD PILGRIM HEALTH CARE, INC.
Principal Investigator
Davene Renee Wright
Activity code
R03
Funding institute
NIH
Fiscal year
2021
Award amount
$96,891
Award type
1
Project period
2021-07-01 → 2023-06-30