How family education cuts obesity

Project
Healthy Eating Programme

Purpose
To reduce childhood obesity and improve the wellbeing of children and families

Funding
From NHS North West London’s public health team and Harrow Council’s
children’s centre budget. It now costs £1,600 a year to run six courses

Background
In 2009, more than one in 10 children in Harrow were officially classed as obese by the time they started school.

“Obesity was 10.6 per cent at reception, so one of our children’s centre targets was to reduce the level of obesity by reception,” says Hilary O’Byrne, service manager for children’s centres at Harrow Council. “We wanted to be able to do that in a sustainable way. It was vital to do it with the right people, so we worked in partnership with public health.”

Action
Children’s centre leaders teamed up with public health profess­ionals from NHS North West London to research and develop a programme to educate local families about healthy eating. A nutritionist played a key role in creating the programme and training others to deliver it.

A course of six sessions covers the elements of a healthy and balanced diet, portion sizes, recipes and meal planning, food labelling and dealing with fussy eaters. It has been introduced in all 16 of Harrow’s children’s centres.

Groups are made up of 10 to 12 parents who attend with their children. The sessions are voluntary, but have proved popular. O’Byrne says the children’s centres have good relationships with parents based on the fact that they “work in partnership and don’t simply tell them what to do”.

The programme also includes “cook and eat” groups, and activities during the holidays.

Outcome
The programme has reached 1,095 children in 929 different families. Childhood obesity levels at reception age dropped from 10.6 per cent in 2009/10 to seven per cent in 2010/11, according to the latest available figures from NHS North West London. That compares to a London average of 11 per cent and a national average of nine per cent.

Of the participating parents, 69.4 per cent said they were very likely to put the theory they learned into practice, while 96.6 per cent who attended a taster session said they would come again. Seventy-one per cent said they enjoyed the sessions a lot and 97.5 per cent said they would recommend the workshops to family and friends.

A six-month follow-up found 85 per cent felt their knowledge of nutrition was a lot better, while the remaining 15 per cent reported it was a little better. Thirteen per cent of parents and carers who attended were men.

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