Healthier Eating for Young Latinx Children at Home
Strong Families Start at Home/Familias Fuertes Comienzan en Casa: A novel Video and Motivational Interviewing Intervention to improve diet quality of low-income, ethnically diverse children
This program uses short, culturally tailored videos and motivational interviewing to help Latinx parents support healthier eating habits in their preschool children.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Brown University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Providence, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11283968 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you join this program, you will watch brief Spanish- or English-language videos at home and meet with a coach who uses motivational interviewing to set practical goals. The advice is tailored to your child's eating style (for example, picky eating or strong appetite) and focuses on positive food parenting skills and making healthy foods easier to find at home. The team also helps connect families to local food resources and considers everyday challenges like work schedules and food access. About 257 Latinx families will take part, and this project builds on a prior pilot that showed the approach is doable.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Low-income Latinx parents or caregivers of preschool-aged children (roughly ages 1–5) who want practical help improving their child's diet are ideal candidates.
Not a fit: Households without young children, families not interested in home-based coaching or video content, or those seeking medical or medication treatments for weight-related conditions may not benefit from this program.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this program could help children eat more nutritious foods, lower obesity risk, and give parents simple, culturally relevant ways to support healthy eating.
How similar studies have performed: A prior pilot (R34) showed the approach was feasible, and other programs using motivational interviewing and videos have shown modest improvements, but few prior efforts have combined culturally tailored, multi-level approaches for Latinx families.
Where this research is happening
Providence, United States
- Brown University — Providence, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Tovar, Alison — Brown University
- Study coordinator: Tovar, Alison
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.