A Community-Engaged Approach to Develop and Implement a Behavioral Infant Obesity Prevention Program for Marginalized Families in Home Visiting

Background: Community-engaged approaches to health interventions can improve program feasibility and suitability, reduce attrition, and improve health outcomes. The current paper (1) describes the community-engaged development and delivery of an infant obesity prevention program, and (2) presents program feasibility and acceptability data. Methods: Healthy Eating for My Infant (HEMI) was developed using a multiphase approach with community stakeholders, including a qualitative needs assessment, action planning, and feedback from community stakeholders. Healthy Eating for My Infant addressed nutrition/feeding education, behavior-change techniques, and mental health/stress as related to infant feeding through 6 home visits with health behavior coaches and family support peers and text messaging support with other program mothers. Fifteen mother-infant dyads enrolled in a home visiting program serving primarily families from marginalized backgrounds were randomized to receive HEMI in a small feasibility trial. Results: Delivery of HEMI was feasible with high retention (86.7%) and session completion (84.0%). Families reported high acceptability of the program; health behavior coaches and family support peers delivering the program perceived that HEMI was helpful for families and that families felt heard and supported. Conclusion: Healthy Eating for My Infant serves as an example of a multiphase community-engaged approach to develop future programs targeting health behavior change among children and families from marginalized backgrounds.