Recruitment evaluation of a preschooler obesity-prevention intervention

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to compare the recruitment strategies of two recent studies that focused on the parental influences on childhood obesity during the preschool years. The first study was a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of the Mind, Exercise, Nutrition … Do It! 2–4 obesity prevention programme and the second was a longitudinal cohort study. For both studies, the desired population were families with preschool children at risk of developing overweight or obesity. Hence, families from diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds were sought. Funding for the RCT provided the resources to adopt a targeted approach to recruitment whereas for the longitudinal study, recruitment was random and opportunistic, rather than specific and targeted. The RCT reported higher child body mass index-for-age z scores, more families not from an Australian or New Zealand background, and more families in the lowest income bracket, suggesting that strategically targeted approaches to recruitment are more likely to achieve the desired sample.

Keywords:

• obesity prevention
• preschool children
• randomised controlled trial
• recruitment

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Australian Research Council for funding the RCT (LP100100049) and Longitudinal Study (DP1092804), and also to thank Adele Henwood and Daniela Dell'Aquila, research assistants who worked on the RCT and Longitudinal Study, respectively. Thank you also to MEND Australia for providing the intervention programme and the community sites who assisted with recruitment. Paul Sacher is currently employed as a senior research fellow at the UCL Institute of Child Health and was the Chief Research and Development Officer at MEND.

Notes on contributors

Helen Skouteris is an associate professor in Developmental Psychology, in the School of Psychology, Deakin University. Her areas of research interest include: parental influences on preschool weight gain; maternal psychopathology and its impact on childhood obesity; social comparisons among primary-school aged children; and prevention of excessive gestational and postpartum weight gain.

Briony Hill is a PhD candidate in the School of Psychology, Deakin University. Her research interests include maternal and childhood obesity prevention, and psychosocial health during pregnancy and the postpartum.

Marita McCabe is an Alfred Deakin professor of psychology at Deakin University. Her main areas of research expertise include: human sexuality, body image across the lifespan, obesity prevention and mental health among older people.

Boyd Swinburn is the professor of Population Nutrition and Global Health at the University of Auckland and Alfred Deakin Professor and Director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University in Melbourne. His major research interests are centred on community and policy actions to prevent childhood and adolescent obesity, and reduce, what he has coined, the ‘obesogenic’ food environment.

Paul Sacher is a senior research fellow and Head of MEND Research at UCL Institute of Child Health. Paul was the driving force behind the development, adaptation and evaluation of MEND's programme in Australia and a recognised author and expert in weight management and health.

Dr Paul Chadwick is clinical lecturer and professional lead on the Behaviour Change Course at University College London. He takes a lifespan perspective in psychology and works across different age ranges, from early years to older adulthood.