Introduction and Rationale: Childhood obesity is a public health epidemic in the United States. Prevention of childhood obesity is an important health concern, but there is a lack of prevention efforts focused on infancy (Birch, Anzman-Frasca, & Paul, 2012). Many health behaviors are learned in the very early childhood years (Dattilo et al., 2012), so infancy is an opportune time to begin obesity prevention efforts (Grote, Theurich, & Koletko, 2012; Paul et al., 2011). There are very few resources available to educate mothers and caregivers of infants on protective infant feeding practices to reduce obesity risk. Purpose and Objective: The purpose of this DNP project is to develop educational material about infant feeding practices as a significant modifiable risk factor for the development of childhood obesity. The educational material is directed towards pregnant women and caregivers of infants less than 12 months of age. The objective is to educate parents and caregivers about infant feeding practices and the importance of preventing excessive weight gain during the first year of life for the prevention of childhood obesity. Methods: The Information-Motivation-Behavior (IMB) Model of Health Behavior serves as a framework for the content of the educational material. The Toolkit for Making Written Material Clear and Effective serves as a guide for the design of the educational material. Results: A systematic assessment of the educational material was conducted using the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT), a validated evaluation tool. The educational material was revised based on the PEMAT score. The PEMAT score was calculated for the revised handout and the handout is presented as an educational tool for the prevention of childhood obesity. Conclusions: This DNP Project demonstrated childhood obesity as a current significant health problem and identified infant feeding practices as a significant modifiable risk factor for the development of childhood obesity. Due to a lack of obesity prevention efforts focused on infancy, educational material was created using the IMB model of health behavior and the Toolkit for Making Written Material Clear and Effective. The final PEMAT evaluation yielded educational material that will likely have a positive health influence on the pediatric population.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/593609 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Szelag, Daria Elizabeth |
| Contributors | Peek, Gloanna, Peek, Gloanna, Peek, Gloanna, Phipps, Lorri Marie, Wiley, Luz |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Electronic Dissertation |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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