Project Practicum

AH- 5314
Courtney LeDuc

Advisory Committee - Valerie Duffy, Ellen Shanley, & Tina Dugdale

Prior Experience
● WIC Nutritionist
● SNAP-Ed Intern
● DPH State-Level WIC
● MI Sessions
● Recruitment
Introduction
● Childhood obesity affected ~14.7 million children and adolescents in 2017-2020
(CDC)
● Low household education level increased risks of poverty and obesity among
children and adolescents
● 27% of CT Kindergarten Children have experienced dental decay in 2022 (Every
Smile Counts 2022, CT DPH)

“Among Connecticut’s kindergarten and third graders, the focus of the report, children
from lower income families ‘had a higher prevalence of every category of dental decay.’”
● Data shows modest decline in obesity among young children enrolled in WIC
○ Prevalence of overweight and obesity combined went down from 32.5% in 2010 to 29.8% in 2020
among children aged 2-4 enrolled in WIC (National Obesity Trends, CDC)
Toddler Project Research Study
Team: Val Duffy, Kate Killion, Amy Corcan, Daniela Carolina Avelino,Grace Xiong, Sophia Gaspard, & Samantha
Conroy

Goal: Address and support healthy nutrition and dental behaviors of children

Recruitment Methods
● Convenience Sample - Low Income Caregivers of children 2-6 living in CT
● Community Partners - Preschools, Early Learning Centers, Family Resource Centers, Food Pantries, Head
Start
○ Nutrition & Dental Lessons, Tabling, Flyers and Handouts, Online Promotion

Study Process
● Initial Survey
● Motivational Interview/Goal Setting Sessions
● Follow Up Survey and Tailored Messages
● Private Facebook Group
Goals
1. To conduct qualitative analysis of motivational interviews with caregivers
participating in the Healthy Toddlers Research Study in order to identify barriers and
facilitators of health eating and dental practices of their young children.
2. To utilize findings from analysis to develop and pilot test responsive feeding and
dental messages.

Hypothesis

Addressing barriers and encouraging facilitators to healthy eating and dental practices in
tailored messages will increase intervention effects on diet quality and dental health
behaviors
Background & Methods
Progress & Plan
✓ Updated Codebook
○ Working together with Amy & Kate - Weekly meetings
○ Analysing MI Session transcripts
○ Thematic Analysis
○ Reaching saturation
✓ Barrier Message Development
○ Refining tailored messages in follow up surveys

Next…
■ Develop Responsive Feeding & Dental Messages
■ Pilot Messages in the community during Spring
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Childhood Obesity Facts.
https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html Accessed November 28, 2023.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Obesity Among WIC-Enrolled Young Children.
https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/obesity-among-WIC-enrolled-young-children.html. Accessed November 28,
2023.

Inoue, K., Seeman, T. E., Nianogo, R., & Okubo, Y. (2023). The effect of poverty on the relationship between
household education levels and obesity in U.S. children and adolescents: an observational study. Lancet regional
health. Americas, 25, 100565. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lana.2023.100565

Juthani, M. (2022).Every Smile Counts: The Oral Health of Connecticut’s Children. (Report). Connecticut
Department of Public Health. https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/DPH/Oral-Health/Every-Smile-Counts-Report-2022.pdf
Questions and Comments?