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Browsing by Author "Parks, Lisa"
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Item Communicating Risk for Obesity in Early Life: Engaging Parents Using Human-Centered Design Methodologies(Frontiers Media, 2022-06-28) Cheng, Erika R.; Moore, Courtney; Parks, Lisa; Taveras, Elsie M.; Wiehe, Sarah E.; Carroll, Aaron E.; Pediatrics, School of MedicineObjective: Pediatricians are well positioned to discuss early life obesity risk, but optimal methods of communication should account for parent preferences. To help inform communication strategies focused on early life obesity prevention, we employed human-centered design methodologies to identify parental perceptions, concerns, beliefs, and communication preferences about early life obesity risk. Methods: We conducted a series of virtual human-centered design research sessions with 31 parents of infants <24 months old. Parents were recruited with a human intelligence task posted on Amazon's Mechanical Turk, via social media postings on Facebook and Reddit, and from local community organizations. Human-centered design techniques included individual short-answer activities derived from personas and empathy maps as well as group discussion. Results: Parents welcomed a conversation about infant weight and obesity risk, but concerns about health were expressed in relation to the future. Tone, context, and collaboration emerged as important for obesity prevention discussions. Framing the conversation around healthy changes for the entire family to prevent adverse impacts of excess weight may be more effective than focusing on weight loss. Conclusions: Our human-centered design approach provides a model for developing and refining messages and materials aimed at increasing parent/provider communication about early life obesity prevention. Motivating families to engage in obesity prevention may require pediatricians and other health professionals to frame the conversation within the context of other developmental milestones, involve the entire family, and provide practical strategies for behavioral change.Item Human-centered designed communication tools for obesity prevention in early life(Elsevier, 2023-07-22) Cheng, Erika R.; Moore, Courtney; Parks, Lisa; Taveras, Elsie M.; Wiehe, Sarah E.; Carroll, Aaron E.; Pediatrics, School of MedicineObjective: How we communicate about obesity is critical as treatment paradigms shift upstream. We previously identified parental perceptions, concerns, beliefs, and communication preferences about early life obesity risk. We engaged parents of children 0 to 24 months of age and pediatricians from Indianapolis, Indiana, USA in the co-design of messages and tools that can be used to facilitate parent/provider conversations about early life obesity prevention. Methods: From April to June 2021, we conducted a series of co-design workshops with parents of children ages 0 to 24 months and pediatricians to identify their preferences for communicating obesity prevention in the setting of a pediatric well visit. Human-centered design techniques, including affinity diagraming and model building, were used to inform key elements of a communication model and communication strategy messages. These elements were combined and refined to create prototype tools that were subsequently refined using stakeholder feedback. Results: Parent participants included 11 mothers and 2 fathers: 8 white, 4 black, and 1 Asian; median age 33 years with 38% reporting annual household incomes less than $50,000. Pediatricians included 7 female and 6 male providers; 69% white. Through an iterative process of co-design, we created an exam room poster that addresses common misconceptions about infant feeding, sleep and exercise, and a behavior change plan to foster parent/provider collaboration focused on achieving children's healthy weight. Conclusions: Our hands-on, collaborative approach may ultimately improve uptake, acceptability and usability of early life obesity interventions by ensuring that parents remain at the center of prevention efforts.