Mindfulness Intervention for Parent Stress and Childhood Obesity Risk: A Randomized Trial

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether a novel parent stress with nutrition vs nutrition alone intervention decreases early childhood obesity risk. METHODS: A prospective, parallel, 12-week randomized controlled trial with parents who were overweight (114 dyads body mass index [BMI]: 34.7 ± 6.6) and their young children (aged 2–5 years) was conducted between November 2018 and July 2022. Parenting Mindfully for Health (PMH⁺N) was compared with the control (CTL+N) weekly group intervention, each with nutrition and physical activity (N) psychoeducation. Changes in child BMI and parent stress were coprimary outcomes, whereas observed parenting in an established laboratory-based parent-child Toy-Wait Task (TWT) and child food intake were secondary outcomes. RESULTS: Child BMI z score significantly increased by 0.41 ([0.13, 0.69], P < .005) in the CTL+N, but PMH⁺N remained unchanged (0.20 [-0.49, 0.09], P > .17) over the 3-month follow-up, and parent stress decreased (3.17 [-5.19, -1.15] points, P < .003) only in the PMH⁺N arm. Significant time main effects indicated increased TWT positive parenting (2.82 [1.24, 4.4], P < .001) and reduced unhealthy child food intake (-1.78 [-3.02, -0.54]), driven by the PMH⁺N arm (P values <.02). Parent stress interacted with PMH⁺N vs CTL+N intervention to predict lower TWT positive parenting and child healthy food intake in the CTL+N arm (-1.74 [-3.26, -0.22] and -3.41 [-7.25, 0.42], respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Targeting parent stress with healthy nutrition is effective in preventing short-term early childhood obesity risk and in improving positive parenting and child healthy food intake. Further assessment of long-term effects of the PMH⁺N intervention on early childhood risk is warranted. (Clinical Trials Registration: NCT03950453).