Issue 169 Item 5 “Health Report Card” Motivates Parents to Address Students’ Wei

A “health report card” that includes a student’s height, weight, and fitness level increases parental awareness of their child’s weight status and their intent to intervene when the child is overweight, helping to prevent diabetes.

The prevalence of overweight among school children has nearly tripled between 1963 and 2000. In an effort to promote healthy weight, school systems are beginning to collect data on students’ BMI, but parental involvement in obesity interventions is considered an important factor in promoting protective eating and physical activity behaviors.

Four elementary schools in the Cambridge Public Schools participated in the current study by documenting height and weight for 1131 students, who were randomly assigned to a personal-information (PI) intervention, a general-information (GI) intervention, or a control group (CG) that received no informational materials until after the study was completed.
The general information included tips for healthy living regarding physical activity and diet. Height, weight, fitness test results and interpretive information were mailed to parents of those in the PI group.

Dr. Chomitz, at the Institute for Community Health in Cambridge, and colleagues then surveyed 399 parents regarding awareness and concern for their child’s weight, plans for weight control, and measures to prevent further weight gain.

Among parents of overweight children, those in the PI group were more likely to report initiating or intending to initiate clinical services, dieting or physical activity compared with the other two groups. Families with overweight children were happy to receive the information and they intended to change. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2003;157:765-772.