Healthier & Happier Families: Preventing and Fighting Childhood Obesity

Objective: to improve the long-term health and reduce the impact of diabetes in children ages 5-19 years and family members through the use of mobile engagement platform which aids participants in learning healthy eating and exercise habits to achieve weight loss and BMI reduction

Timeline: May 1, 2017 - December 21, 2018
Funder: Allen Foundation (Midland, MI)
Project Coordinator: Katie Trotter (ktrotter0102@gmail.com)

The “Healthier & Happier Families: Preventing and Fighting Childhood Obesity” program seeks to improve long-term health outcomes and reduce impact of obesity and diabetes in children (ages 5-19 years) and their families in central Michigan through one of the most effective and well-researched programs for children, the “Traffic Light Diet”. Kurbo Health and MiHIA have partnered to allow up to 400 children and their families across a 6-county region to participate in the Kurbo program free of charge. Kurbo is a highly successful, fun, easy-to-do mobile and online weight management program licensed from Stanford Children’s Hospital that helps kids and teens eat healthier, exercise more and lose weight.

Significance

In America, 1 out of 3 children are obese or overweight, and between the years of 2011-2014, nearly 12.7 million children and adolescents aged 2-19 years were considered overweight. 80% of overweight adolescents grow up to be obese adults and are, therefore, more at risk for health problems such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, several types of cancer and osteoarthritis. Furthermore, overweight five-year-olds have a tenfold increased risk of becoming obese adults compared to five-year-olds that are considered to be of a normal weight.

Economically, a National Business Group on Health report on claims data shows that the annual health care expenses for an obese child is $3,547 compared to $1,346 for a normal weight child, and a greater percentage of obese children receive treatment for a variety of health conditions compared to non-obese children. Even more shocking, claims data shows a child with type II diabetes is $10,789 in annual health care expenses. In total, health cost for employers exceeds $14 billion annually.

With 1/3 of all children in the United States overweight or obese, there is a need for a cost effective solution that effectively helps children reduce, and maintain, their weight and BMI by teaching them to how to make healthier food choices, proper portion sizes and control, and food and activity tracking.

Goals and Key Strategies

Goal 1: 75% of children ages 5-19 years complete the program, as defined by participants completing 9 of 12 engagement sessions with coach

Key Strategy 1: Receive on-boarding call after registering to ensure children and families understand program and establish success habits
Key Strategy 2: Receive sequenced outreach from personal coach if families begin missing coaching call
Key Strategy 3: Access to parent-networks and receive education emails to provide resources for success granted to parents

STATUS: In Progress - 41% had at least 9 coaching sessions out of those who started the program as of August 9, 2018

Goal 2: 65% of children ages 5-19 years who complete the program reduce, or maintain, BMI and weight

Key Strategy 1: Participation in a weekly 15-minute live video coaching session with a Kurbo behavioral coach to receive personalized recommendations, feedback, encouragement, and third party accountability.
Key Strategy 2: Adoption of the “Traffic Light Diet” classification system and portion measurements through videos and mobile games
Key Strategy 3: Track food intake, activity, height, and weight within the mobile app. The Kurbo platform will respond to data entered in the app via push notifications, text messages, and emails, and make healthy recommendations and modifications

STATUS: In Progress - 78% reduced or maintained BMI percentile of those registered as of August 9, 2018

Goal 3: 75% children ages 5-19 years who complete the program report higher levels of self-confidence & self-esteem, improved feelings of self-control, more physically active lifestyle, and reduced conflict between children and parents over food and exercise

Key Strategy 1: Distribute a post program electronic children and families
Key Strategy 2: Incorporate raffle gift card incentives to encourage survey completion.

STATUS: In Progress - 75% are more physically active, reduced conflict between children and parents over food and exercise, and increased self confidence as of August 9, 2018

Partners

Program Lead:

MiHIA will act as convener and integrator providing program oversight, including engagement activities (promotional toolkits, communication to the region), coordination between partners, and facilitation of learning work groups.

Consulting Partner:

Kurbo Health will act as the provider of the mobile engagement platform, including enrollment, reporting, and program quality and fidelity monitoring. Founded in 2013 to create a scalable, mobile solution to help children, the Kurbo program is based on over 30 years of clinical nutrition and behavioral modification research on childhood obesity. Prior interventions conducted, including an employer/workplace pilot in central Ohio, army base program in Oklahoma, and school system pilot in Singapore, have demonstrated the program is highly effective in helping kids lose weight sustainably and improve metabolic health. The high-tech, high-touch platform is achieving exceptional outcomes including a reduction in BMI for more than 85% of participants. In addition, more than 90% of children using Kurbo have lost weight along with more than half of their parents as they engage in Kurbo Health’s family oriented approach.