AHRQ Innovations Exchange | Group Sessions and Automated Phone Counseling Help Overweight Children in Low-Income Families Improve Health-Related Behaviors, Quality of Life, and Body Mass Index

AHRQ Innovations Exchange | Group Sessions and Automated Phone Counseling Help Overweight Children in Low-Income Families Improve Health-Related Behaviors, Quality of Life, and Body Mass Index

AHRQ’s Health Care Innovations Exchange Features Hospital Initiatives to Improve the Diet of Low-Income Families

The April 25 issue of AHRQ’s Health Care Innovations Exchange profiles hospital-based programs that provided low-income families with access to healthy foods and parental support. Carilion Clinic Children’s Hospital’s Smart Choices for Healthy Families supported low-income parents in promoting a healthier diet and increased physical activity for the entire family. Parents and children participated in six bi-weekly, small-group discussions led by community leaders and focused on education and goal setting. Parents also received an automated phone call after each session to reinforce the discussion and promote established goals and setting new ones. In a pilot test, the program helped children reduce body mass index, achieve more muscle mass, improve their health-related quality of life, reduce screen time, and increase levels of physical activity. Select to read more profiles of innovations related to improving the diet of low-income families on AHRQ’s Health Care Innovations Exchange Web site, which contains more than 700 searchable innovations and 1,550 QualityTools.

AHRQ Innovations Exchange | Innovations & QualityTools