OBJECTIVE: To describe the methodology of a family-focused, culturally tailored program, Abriendo Caminos, for the prevention of excess weight gain in children.DESIGN: Randomized control trial with outcome assessment at pretest, posttest, and 6 months after intervention or abbreviated-attention control group.SETTING: Community setting across 5 sites (Illinois, California, Iowa, Texas, and Puerto Rico).PARTICIPANTS: Mexican American and Puerto Rican families (parent and 1 child aged 6-18 years). A sample size of 100 families (50 intervention and 50 control) per site (n = 500) will provide adequate power to detect intervention effects.INTERVENTION: Families will participate in 6 weekly, 2-hour group workshops on nutrition education through combined presentations and activities, family wellness, and physical activity.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome is prevention of excess weight gain in children; secondary outcomes include changes in child diet, specifically fruit, vegetable, and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, and changes in parents' diets and improvement of family routines. Measures will be collected at baseline, postintervention, and 6 months after.ANALYSIS: Modeling to assess changes within and between experimental groups will be checked using standard methods including assessment of model fit, influence diagnostics, adjusted R2, and multicollinearity. Significance of effects will be examined using Type III tests.
Adolescent Child