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A pilot study of enhanced operation fit: The feasibility of a camp‐based health intervention for ethnically diverse families of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities
Author(s) -
Sanner Catherine M.,
Neece Cameron L.,
Herbozo Sylvia,
Baum Marti F.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.056
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1468-3148
pISSN - 1360-2322
DOI - 10.1111/jar.12832
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , ethnically diverse , intervention (counseling) , obesity , intellectual disability , medicine , typically developing , gerontology , psychology , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , environmental health , psychiatry , autism , population
Background Obesity rates are higher in children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (DD) compared to typically developing (TD) children. In TD children, family‐based (FB) interventions for obesity are the most effective interventions. Research addressing obesity interventions for children with IDD is limited. Method We adapted a community‐based obesity intervention created for TD children for children with IDD and added a parent education component. The current study examined the feasibility of Enhanced‐Operation Fit, a camp‐based intervention created in order to reduce weight, and improve health behavior outcomes. Participants were 16 children (68.8% male; M age = 13.15, SD age = 1.62) and their parents. Results Results indicated that incorporating a daily parent education group limited recruitment potential, but showed promising preliminary improvements in parent feeding and child eating behaviors. Conclusions Health interventions for children with IDD are greatly needed and the current study may be a cost and time‐efficient intervention to help address this public health crisis.