Development of the ¡Vamos por Mas! parenting program to prevent substance use among Chilean adolescents.

In Chile, the prevalence of tobacco, alcohol and drug use among adolescents is very high. Decades of research indicate that parenting interventions reduce these risky behaviors. However, there are no parenting interventions validated in Chile to prevent adolescent substance use. This article reports the development of the ¡Vamos por Mas! (¡VxM!) program following the recommendations of the Medical Research Council's framework for designing and evaluating complex interventions. After identifying key intervention components, a preliminary version of a substance-use prevention program was designed. The preliminary intervention targeted families with adolescents in fifth and sixth grade and had four components: personalized feedback, in-person workshops, virtual engagement, and family support, to deliver positive-youth development and family-strengthening content. Then, students, guardians, school staff and community experts from different school systems (N = 111) evaluated the preliminary version of the program through a convergent parallel mixed methods study, including focus groups (N = 14) and surveys (N = 101). In general, all participants had positive perceptions of the program and valued its purpose, strategies, objectives and contents. Suggestions included expanding the purpose to promote healthy relationships, focusing on schools with low and intermediate socioeconomic vulnerability, including self-control content, removing the personalized feedback component and adding two additional components: school partnership and external supervision, among other improvements. With this information, the final version of the ¡VxM! program was developed. After a rigorous intervention development process, the ¡VxM! program is ready to be piloted and evaluated in a randomized trial.

Chile has high rates of tobacco, alcohol and drug use among adolescents. Parenting interventions have shown to reduce these risky behaviors. However, there are no parenting interventions validated in Chile to prevent adolescent substance use. This article reports the development of the ¡Vamos por Mas! (¡VxM!) program to strengthen family relations and prevent adolescent substance use following the recommendations of the Medical Research Council's framework for designing and evaluating complex interventions. In the first phase, key intervention components were identified. Then, a preliminary version of the intervention was designed. In the second phase, perceptions of key stakeholders were collected through focus groups (N = 14) and surveys (N = 101) including adolescents, guardians, school staff and community experts. These participants evaluated the preliminary version of the program and provided feedback. In the final phase of the intervention development process, stakeholder opinions were integrated into the proposal. The final version of the ¡VxM! program included five components: (i) school partnership, (ii) in-person workshops, (iii) virtual engagement, (iv) family support and (v) external supervision. This version is ready to be piloted to evaluate feasibility and preliminary efficacy, before being assessed in a randomized trial.

Weight Gain during the COVID-19 Pandemic in a High-Risk Cohort of Children in San Francisco, CA.

Pandemic mitigation measures may lead to excess weight gain in children. Our objective was to assess weight gain during the COVID-19 pandemic in children of ages 4-12 years with overweight and obesity in San Francisco, CA. Children with BMI ≥85th percentile measured at a clinic visit from January to March 2020 were recruited. Follow-up BMI measurements were obtained between October 2020 and March 2021 from the electronic medical record or through a video study visit. Pre- and post-BMI measurements were obtained on n = 91 participants. The majority were Latino (85%) and publicly insured (91%). Mean monthly weight gain was 0.73 kg [standard deviation (SD) 0.47], equivalent to yearly weight gain of 8.8 kg. Mean monthly change in BMI z-score was 0.02 (SD 0.04) equivalent to yearly increase in BMI-z of 0.24. Weight gain among children in San Francisco with overweight and obesity during the COVID-19 pandemic far exceeded healthy weight gain for this age group.

Impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic on Parents' Perception of Health Behaviors in Children With Overweight and Obesity.

OBJECTIVE: To understand the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on parental perceptions of health behaviors and food insecurity among children with overweight and obesity living in San Francisco and to assess the relationship between food insecurity and dietary intake during the pandemic. METHODS: Parents of children ages 4 to 12 in San Francisco with body mass index ≥85th percentile measured at a clinic visit at a Federally Qualified Health Center or academic practice from January 1st to March 15th, 2020 were eligible to participate. Parents completed a survey reporting on child health behaviors and household food insecurity prior to and since the start of the pandemic. Survey items were abstracted from validated surveys with adaptations. Regression models evaluated associations between food insecurity and dietary intake variables. RESULTS: Most participants (n = 145) were publicly insured (90%), Latino (77%), and spoke Spanish at home (70%). Parents perceived that child mean daily nonacademic screen time was higher during the pandemic compared to before (3.8 hours vs 1.6 hours). Mean daily physical activity was reported to be lower compared to prior to the pandemic (1 hour vs 1.8 hours). On average, reported bedtime shifted 1.6 hours later. Food insecurity increased significantly but was not associated with intake of fruits, vegetables, sugar-sweetened beverages, or foods with added sugar during the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: Parents of children with overweight or obesity in San Francisco perceive increased child screen time, decreased physical activity and later bedtimes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings suggest a need for policies that support healthy lifestyle behaviors among low-income children during the pandemic.