Abstract
Childhood obesity is recognized as a major health problem in the United States and is occurring at ever younger ages. While most prevention efforts are aimed at school-age children, this project focuses on the caregivers of children from 0 to 24 months of age. This study is an evaluation of an educational English/Spanish infant feeding video, distributed for home viewing at one New York City Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) center (video group) but not at three others (comparison group). Baseline, 3 and 6 month infant feeding knowledge and behavior surveys were conducted. For this report, analyses are restricted to Latina immigrant mothers. The video and comparison group mothers were similar in age, education, and parity. The video group was more likely to speak Spanish at home, and had lower knowledge scores at baseline. At the 6 month follow-up, knowledge increased for both groups, but the video group showed a greater increase in knowledge between baseline and 6 months: in ordered logistic regression analyses the video group had a 1.7 times greater score increase at each outcome level. The video group also showed positive changes in behavior—later age at first solid feeding was observed in the video group. We found that an inexpensive, low-intensity video intervention can positively impact maternal knowledge and behavior related to infant feeding among immigrant Latinas. Attention should be given to intervening early with high-risk populations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Curtin, L. R., McDowell, M. A., Tabak, C. J., & Flegal, K. M. (2006). Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States, 1999–2004. JAMA, 295(13), 1549–1555.
Polhamus, B., Dalenius, K., Borland, E., Mackintosh, H., Smith, B., Grummer-Strawn, L. (2009). Pediatric nutrition surveillance report 2007. Atlanta: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Thorpe, L. E., List, D. G., Marx, T., May, L., Helgerson, S. D., & Frieden, T. R. (2004). Childhood obesity in New York City elementary school students. American Journal of Public Health, 94(9), 1496–1500.
Nelson, J. A., Carpenter, K., & Chiasson, M. A. (2006). Diet, activity, and overweight among preschool-age children enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Prev Chronic Dis, 3(2), A49.
Young, C. R., Peretz, P., Jaslow, R., Chamany, S., Berger, D., Brunetti, J., et al. (2006). Obesity in early childhood: More than 40% of Head Start children in NYC are overweight. NYC Vital Signs, 5(2), 1–2.
Goodell, L. S., Wakefield, D. B., & Ferris, A. M. (2009). Rapid weight gain during the first year of life predicts obesity in 2–3 year olds from a low-income, minority population. Journal of Community Health, 34(5), 370–375.
Irigoyen, M., Glassman, M. E., Chen, S., & Findley, S. E. (2008). Early onset of overweight and obesity among low-income 1- to 5-year olds in New York City. J Urban Health, 85(4), 545–554.
Ogden, C. L., Flegal, K. M., Carroll, M. D., & Johnson, C. L. (2002). Prevalence and trends in overweight among US children and adolescents, 1999–2000. JAMA, 288(14), 1728–1732.
Anderson, S. E., & Whitaker, R. C. (2009). Prevalence of obesity among US preschool children in different racial and ethnic groups. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 163(4), 344–348.
Sussner, K. M., Lindsay, A. C., & Peterson, K. E. (2009). The influence of maternal acculturation on child body mass index at age 24 months. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 109(2), 218–225.
Gartner, L. M., Morton, J., Lawrence, R. A., Naylor, A. J., O’Hare, D., Schanler, R. J., et al. (2005). Breastfeeding and the use of human milk. Pediatrics, 115(2), 496–506.
Story, M., Holt, K., & Sofka, D. (2002). Bright futures in practice: Nutrition (2nd ed.). Arlington, VA: National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health.
Krebs, N. F., & Jacobson, M. S. (2003). Prevention of pediatric overweight and obesity. Pediatrics, 112(2), 424–430.
StataCorp. (2007). Stata base reference manual. Vol 2, I-P, Release 10. College Station: Stata Press.
Briefel, R. R., Reidy, K., Karwe, V., & Devaney, B. (2004). Feeding infants and toddlers study: Improvements needed in meeting infant feeding recommendations. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 104(Suppl 1), s31–s37.
Black, M. M., Siegel, E. H., Abel, Y., & Bentley, M. E. (2001). Home and videotape intervention delays early complementary feeding among adolescent mothers. Pediatrics, 107(5), E67.
Horodynski, M. A., & Stommel, M. (2005). Nutrition education aimed at toddlers: An intervention study. Pediatr Nurs., 364(5), 7–72.
Campbell, K., Hesketh, K., Crawford, D., Salmon, J., Ball, K., & McCallum, Z. (2008). The Infant Feeding Activity and Nutrition Trial (INFANT) an early intervention to prevent childhood obesity: Cluster-randomised controlled trial. BMC Public Health., 8, 103.
Wen, L. M., Baur, L. A., Rissel, C., Wardle, K., Alperstein, G., & Simpson, J. M. (2007). Early intervention of multiple home visits to prevent childhood obesity in a disadvantaged population: A home-based randomised controlled trial (Healthy Beginnings Trial). BMC Public Health., 7, 76.
Fitzgibbon, M. L., Stolley, M. R., Schiffer, L., Van Horn, L., KauferChristoffel, K., & Dyer, A. (2005). Two-year follow-up results for Hip-Hop to Health Jr.: A randomized controlled trial for overweight prevention in preschool minority children. Journal of Pediatrics, 146(5), 618–625.
Fitzgibbon, M. L., Stolley, M. R., Schiffer, L., Van Horn, L., KauferChristoffel, K., & Dyer, A. (2006). Hip-Hop to Health Jr. for Latino preschool children. Obesity (Silver Spring), 14(9), 1616–1625.
Haire-Joshu, D., Elliott, M. B., Caito, N. M., Hessler, K., Nanney, M. S., Hale, N., et al. (2008). High 5 for Kids: The impact of a home visiting program on fruit and vegetable intake of parents and their preschool children. Preventive Medicine, 47(1), 77–82.
Johnson, S. L. (2000). Improving Preschoolers’ self-regulation of energy intake. Pediatrics, 106(6), 1429–1435.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Edith Letamendi, Diane Quintero, and Vanessa Bransburg, who interviewed the participants in this project. Funding for this project was provided by the New York State Assembly and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Scheinmann, R., Chiasson, M.A., Hartel, D. et al. Evaluating a Bilingual Video to Improve Infant Feeding Knowledge and Behavior Among Immigrant Latina Mothers. J Community Health 35, 464–470 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-009-9202-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-009-9202-4