Brazilian Immigrant Parents’ Preferences for Content and Intervention Modalities for the Design of a Family-Based Intervention to Promote Their Preschool-Age Children’s Healthful Energy Balance-Related Behaviors

Thaís Vilasboas, Qun Le, Mary L. Greaney and Ana Cristina Lindsay ()
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Thaís Vilasboas: Department of Biology, College of Science and Mathematics, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125, USA
Qun Le: Department of Public Health, Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts—Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854, USA
Mary L. Greaney: Department of Health Studies, College of Health Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881, USA
Ana Cristina Lindsay: Department of Exercise and Health Sciences, Robert and Donna Manning College of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125, USA

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 6, 1-12

Abstract: Brazilians are a rapidly growing ethnic immigrant population in the United States (U.S.), and there is a lack of childhood obesity prevention interventions addressing the needs of Brazilian preschool-age children. Using the family ecological model (FEM) as a guide, this developmental cross-sectional study assessed the preferences (content, intervention modality, and language) of 52 individual Brazilian immigrant parents (27 mothers, 25 fathers) for a family-based intervention to promote healthful energy balance-related behaviors (EBRB). Overall, 85% or more of parents reported being interested or very interested in content related to five of the seven assessed EBRBs (increasing fruits and vegetables, reducing unhealthy foods and sugar-sweetened beverages, increasing physical activity, and reducing screen time). Parent-preferred intervention modalities were group sessions delivered by community health workers (CHWs, 86.5%), email (84.6%), and messaging (78.8%), with most parents (71.2%) indicating a preference for content in Portuguese. Interventions integrating multiple components, such as group sessions offered by CHWs and text messaging using SMS and WhatsApp, should be considered. Future steps for intervention development should include investigating different communication channels and their integration into a culturally and linguistically tailored family-based intervention designed to promote healthful EBRBs of preschool-age children in Brazilian families living in the U.S.

Keywords: energy balance-related behaviors; parents; Brazilian; immigrant; preschool; obesity; intervention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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