Come January 2017 a team led by Dr. Stephen Cook, associate professor of pediatrics at University of Rochester Medical Center, will be actively recruiting families at pediatric practices in Rochester for a new program aimed at fighting childhood obesity through changing family behavior.
This study will include other sites at the University of Buffalo, Washington University in St. Louis, and Nationwide Children's Hospital at Ohio State University.
“Research shows that parents don’t really like to talk about obesity. But if they do, it’s with their primary care pediatrician. It’s in that setting,” Cook said.
Trained health coaches will embed at pediatrician offices in Rochester — including Rochester General Pediatric Associates, Elmwood Avenue Pediatrics, Long Pond Pediatrics, Panorama Pediatrics and Genesis Pediatrics — to recruit families with children six to 12-years-old.
The coaches will meet with families on a regular basis to work on changing behaviors associated with obesity. The idea is to customize a regimen for each family based on their needs.
“It can’t be thought of as simple as, well, give this family a meal plan and give this family an exercise plan,” Cook said. “We really have to work on behavior negotiation, parenting skills, motivation for change. Hopefully making it fun and in such a way that it does become adopted by the family and sustained.”
The “curriculum,” as Cook calls it, involves evidence based tactics that encourage parents and children to change behavior together.
The National Institutes of Health is supporting the study in Rochester with $1.5 million.