Toddler Overweight and Tooth Decay Prevention Study (TOTS)
Overview of Study Partnership
The Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB) along with Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research (KPCHR) have joined in partnership with six Northwest tribes to conduct a research study. The PTOTS study will implement three intervention sites and three comparisons sites to measure the outcome of community and family based interventions to reduce childhood obesity.
Specific Aims:
The overall aim of the PTOTS study is to test whether community and family-based interventions can alter feeding practices (breastfeeding, sugared beverage consumption, timing and type of introduction of solids, and influence parenting to reduce sedentary lifestyles (eg. limiting introduction of television/video viewing, encouraging development of motor skills and creating safe play opportunities) and whether such behavioral changes can impact childhood obesity and early childhood tooth decay. The intervention framework is the social ecology model for health promotion that targets health behaviors at multiple levels.
This study is innovative in its focus is on keeping children healthy from the very beginning as opposed to combating disease once it has occurred. It is also innovative because it focuses the most vulnerable members of the community, infants and toddlers, using a multi-level approach of interventions. If successful, the intervention would have great significance for the many tribal communities facing these problems.
Tribes Served:
PTOTS currently serves six northwest tribes.
Funding :
The PTOTS Study is a federally funded health research study sponsored by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
