Presented by Simone A. French, PhD
Professor, Division of Epidemiology & Community Health
University of Minnesota School of Public Health

Childhood obesity is a serious health problem and disproportionately affects children of lower income and racial/ethnic minorities. The contributors to childhood obesity are multi-faceted and include the neighborhood environment, social influences, economic factors, the home environment, parenting behaviors, and child behavioral and biological factors.

The NET-Works trial was one of four community-based intervention trials that were part of the Childhood Obesity Prevention and Treatment Research consortium (NHLBI/NICHD; COPTR 2010-2017). The COPTR consortium is a collaborative effort to develop and evaluate novel approaches to prevent or treat childhood obesity. Each of the four field centers tested a unique three-year intervention with a low-income sample and shared a core set of common measures and protocols.

The goal of the Minnesota NET-Works study was to integrate home visiting, community-based parenting classes, primary care provider interactions and neighborhood resource connection strategies into a synergistic intervention that targeted low-income, racially and ethnically diverse parents to prevent obesity among their preschool-aged children. This seminar describes the NET-Works three-year randomized trial intervention and primary outcome results. Implications for next steps with research studies and for community-based pediatric obesity prevention interventions are discussed.

All faculty, staff, and students welcome!