Iowa State University Extension and Outreach has partnered with Dallas County Public Health and Dallas County Hospital to conduct Abriendo Caminos, a whole-family program aiming to prevent or reduce childhood obesity by promoting healthy nutrition and lifestyle behaviors that incorporate the traditions of Hispanic heritage.
The Abriendo Caminos project — the name means “opening ways” in Spanish — began March 21 and is part of a two-year research program supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Currently, California, Illinois, Puerto Rico, Texas and Iowa are participating in this new research program.
There are only three program communities in Iowa: Ottumwa, Postville and Perry.
Each community finds at least 20 families to participate. Each family must meet the criteria of being of Mexican origin, with the parents or caregivers who primarily speak Spanish, and each family must have children between the ages of 6 to 18 years old. All of the families receive incentives for participating.
Families are divided into two groups by random selection. For the Perry program, the control group consists of 10 families, and the intervention group consists of 11 families. Each family participates in a series of entry and exit data testing.
Both groups went through an initial mandatory interview, and they had the option of participating in lab draws, an assessment of each family member’s height and weight, hair sample testing and body mass index (BMI) on the beginning date.
After the initial entry data was collected, each group went their separate ways. The control families received written material on nutrition, physical activity and family time, and the intervention families are participating in two-hour classes held once a week over the course of six weeks.
When the six weeks end May 9 and then again six months later, both groups will come back to Dallas County Hospital for another set of interview questions, lab draws and assessment of each member’s height, weight and body mass index (BMI).
The intervention group’s classes are held every Tuesday evening at Dallas County Hospital. Each class is split into three main sections: Nutrition is taught by Mary Krisco. Physical activity is taught by Lupita Chavez, LPN, and family time is led by Rosa Gonzalez.
Also participating are MariSue Hartung and Lisa Mickelson, youth facilitators for nutrition with ISU Extension, and Jon Wolseth, Extension community development specialist.
The nutrition focus each week is on different food groups and the portions that should be consumed. Physical activity ranges from everyday wellness to focusing specifically on an active lifestyle for healthy heart and lungs to overall being active, strong and decreasing sedentary behavior.
The team will begin another program for 25 new families in the spring of 2018. For more information about Abriendo Caminos, contact Lupita Chavez at 515-465-7684 or lchavez@dallascohospital.org or Rosa Gonzalez at 515-490-2298 or rdegonza@iastate.edu.
