Lessons on early childhood obesity prevention interventions from the Victorian Infant Program

Abstract

Early childhood provides an opportunity to support parents to promote a range of healthy behaviours at a time of high engagement with familyfocused health services. The Infant Program is believed to be the first of its kind to address healthy behaviours and obesity risk in the first year of life using a universally delivered service. The program is an efficacious, low-cost intervention, and many lessons have been learnt across the journey from a randomised controlled trial to small-scale community implementation. The evolution of the Infant Program highlights the value of applying a translational research process to best position interventions to be implemented at scale. It also illustrates the benefits that a sequential approach, a receptive environment and system-level support provide when seeking to integrate new interventions into routine health service delivery. Understanding these processes and factors leads to a better appreciation of the role each step plays in implementing population health interventions at scale.

Understanding, comparing and learning from the four EPOCH early childhood obesity prevention interventions: A multi‐methods study

“…The interviews explored the planning, delivery, evaluation and implementation of the complex interventions and contextual factors that enabled or hindered their delivery. The interview guide (see Table S1) was informed by the UK Medical Research Council development‐evaluation‐implementation process framework, 20 as well as by consultation with experts in the area of qualitative research in childhood obesity prevention (including ST) and relevant literature 25,33 . Particular focus was placed on exploring key lessons and recommendations for researchers and policy makers developing, evaluating and implementing interventions.…”

“…Previous studies have attempted to apply these taxonomies and frameworks to enhance understanding of complex interventions 21‐26 . However, these studies were either reviews of the published literature, which were limited by the scarcity of information from published records, or were focussed on single interventions, thereby only offering one perspective.…”

Participant Experiences of an Infant Obesity Prevention Program Delivered via Telephone Calls or Text Messages

“…The finding that some participants considered it difficult to adhere to the advice provided, and they considered this program burdensome on top of other commitments and responsibilities, has been shown in other studies [3,35,36]. Lack of compliance with the program was encountered in other infant obesity prevention programs delivered via more traditional modes e.g., face-to-face, and attributed to time constraints, travel distances, busy schedules and return of participants back to work [35][36][37]. Programs need to acknowledge competing commitments of participants and consider providing flexibility and choice.…”

Cost comparison of five Australasian obesity prevention interventions for children aged from birth to two years

“…While intervention implementation costs have been reported as a common barrier to the widespread implementation of obesity prevention programs 49 , we have costed interventions within the confines of the RCTs in which they were originally conducted and have not included the cost impacts of subsequent enhancements to intervention content and delivery over time or more wide‐scale implementation. This is an area for significant future work, particularly given the on‐going scale‐up of the InFANT 50 and CHAT interventions (Table S1). The CHAT intervention content and delivery mode evolved from that of the Healthy Beginnings trial, and thus it is particularly interesting to compare and contrast intervention costs ($1135 per participant for Healthy Beginnings; $394 per participant for CHAT telephone intervention or $80 per participant for CHAT SMS intervention arm).…”