# My weight-their weight: eHealth intervention for managing obesity in child care settings

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2024 · $619,319

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Child care centers ─ and their providers ─ are critical partners in public health efforts to address today’s obesity
epidemic. Diet and physical activity (PA) habits are formed early, influencing immediate and long-term obesity
risk, and both centers and providers play key roles in forming children’s weight-related habits. Yet, the standard
paradigm of child care-based obesity prevention initiatives primarily target only center directors to change
organizational-level policies and practices; failing to recognize the needs of the child care providers. These
providers suffer disproportionally high prevalence of obesity and research has shown that providers’ own poor
eating and PA behaviors reduce their confidence and ability to model and promote healthy lifestyle behaviors to
the children in their care. However, information regarding the effectiveness of improving provider health
behaviors or whether such improvements elicit meaningful change in the child care environment and the children
in their care is limited. Leveraging our team’s expertise with implementing evidence-based behavior change and
weight loss interventions, the proposed study will integrate an evidence-based weight management intervention
for child care providers into Go NAPSACC’s existing childhood obesity prevention program (Go NAPSACC+).
Go NAPSACC+ program will be assessed using a clustered randomized controlled trial to evaluate if improving
child care providers’ health behaviors elicit meaningful change in dietary and PA behaviors in 2-5-year-old
children in their care and the child care environment. We will recruit 84 centers, including 168 providers, and 672
2–5-year-old children to participate in the evaluation. Centers will be randomly assigned to 1) standard “Go
NAPSACC” or 2) “Go NAPSACC+” (with a provider weight management component). Outcome measures will
assess impact on dietary intake and PA behaviors of 2-5-year-old children at 6 months (primary aim) and 12
months. Secondarily we will compare the impact of the intervention on centers’ implementation of healthy weight
practices and the effect on provider-level weight, diet quality and/or PA at 6 and 12-months. Extensive process
analysis, guided by the RE-AIM framework, will document the fidelity of the interventions, challenges and barriers
to effective implementation, and use of program specified activities. If successful, findings will provide a highly
implementable, scalable, and sustainable strategy that would enhance the standard paradigm of early childhood
obesity prevention initiatives.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10766677
- **Project number:** 5R01DK128174-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** Erik A Willis
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $619,319
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-02-01 → 2027-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10766677

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10766677, My weight-their weight: eHealth intervention for managing obesity in child care settings (5R01DK128174-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10766677. Licensed CC0.

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