Marla Reicks, Professor and Extension nutritionist in Department of Food Science and Nutrition
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Latino fathers promoting healthy youth behaviors
Padres preparados, jóvenes saludables
Family Development staff are leading a five-year project to prevent obesity among Latino adolescents. This project has received nearly $1 million in new grant funding from the National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Childhood Obesity Prevention Challenge Area.
Preliminary results released
To adapt the Padres Informados, Jóvenes Preparados curriculum using a CBPR approach, the team conducted focus groups with Latino fathers, mothers, and youth. Information from these focus groups were then used to inform the curriculum development process.
- Download a summary of the results in English: Latino Fathers Promoting Healthy Youth Behaviors: Focus Group Results (PDF).
- Also available in Spanish: Latino Fathers Promoting Healthy Youth Behaviors: Resultados de los grupos de enfoque (PDF).
The project
The Latino Fathers Promoting Healthy Youth Behaviors project aims to prevent obesity among Latino adolescents by engaging families, especially fathers or other male caregivers in the household (foster parents, uncles, grandparents, or older brothers), and their child (10–14 years old) in a culturally- and linguistically-appropriate prevention program.
The approach
This project adopts a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach. Extension staff will actively partner with community organizations serving Latino populations in both urban and rural areas in Minnesota. All stakeholders will contribute to developing a community-based obesity prevention curriculum for Latino families.
The curriculum will be adapted from an evidence-based parenting curriculum titled Padres Informados, Jóvenes Preparados. This eight-week program has shown to be effective in improving Latino parenting practices for preventing youth substance abuse.
The adapted program will focus on improving youth energy balance-related behaviors by increasing parent involvement in positive parenting practices. The positive parenting practices include providing supporting environment for healthy eating and physical activity, setting expectations, and role modeling. The energy balance-related behaviors include the following activities.
- Consuming fruits and vegetables, sugary drinks, sweets and salty snacks, and fast foods.
- Participating in family meals.
- Engaging in physical activity and screen time.
The timeline
This five-year grant started in March 2016 and will continue until February 2021.
Years 1–2
- Convene Stakeholder Advisory Team.
- Adapt, pretest, and revise curriculum.
- Develop program evaluation protocols.
Years 2–4
- Implement programs at community sites.
Year 5
- Analyze program outcomes.
- Report findings to stakeholders.
The team
The multidisciplinary team working on this project includes faculty from several different departments at the University; Extension educators from Health and Nutrition, Family Relations, and Family Resource Management; SNAP-Ed educators; and Latino community leaders.
- G. Ali Hurtado, former Research Associate at Extension Center for Family Development and current Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in School of Public Health, University of Maryland.
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Roxana Linares, Executive Director with Centro Tyrone Guzman
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Yoli Chambers, Centro Tyrone Guzman
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Prisciliano Maya, Hispanic Minister Director at Sacred Heart Church, St. Paul Minnesota
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Father Tim Norris, Pastor at Sacred Heart Church, St. Paul Minnesota
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Michele Allen, Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
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Maria Veronica Svetaz MD. MPH Hennepin County Medical Center. Family and Community Medicine
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Mary Marczak, Director of Urban Family Development and Evaluation in Extension Center for Family Development
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Alejandro Omar Peralta Reyes, Research coordinator in Extension Center for Family Development
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Silvia Alvarez de Davila, Extension educator in family resiliency
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Antonio Alba Meraz, Extension educator in family resiliency
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Aysegul Baltaci, Graduate Research Assistant, Extension Center for Family Development
Related resource
USDA Announces $3.8 Million in Grants and Additional $7 Million Available for Critical Research to Prevent Childhood Obesity — National Institute of Food and Agriculture — Read NIFA’s May 19 press release.