Building Social Networks to Enhance Postpartum Weight Loss and Appropriate Infant Feeding Practices

The purpose of this study is to examine whether we can use social networks to spread health information and health behaviors that 1) support women in returning to their pre-pregnancy weight after delivery; and 2) promote healthy infant feeding practices.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Obesity
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Social network building intervention; Behavioral: Home visit

Detailed Description

The long-term goal of this research is to prevent obesity-related adverse health outcomes for future generations by applying information emerging from social network studies to the development of new population-based behavioral interventions. There are a number of critical periods during fetal and infant development that appear to influence the later development of obesity. Interventions that prevent insult to these critical windows from occurring could improve children's life course trajectories. This project sets the groundwork for examining whether social networks could explicitly be utilized to prevent obesity from developing by transmitting health information and health behaviors that 1) prevent postpartum weight retention in first time mothers and 2) promote appropriate infant feeding practices. The secondary aim is to assess which individual-level network-related characteristics best predict postpartum body composition and infant feeding practices.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 41
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Tennessee
    • Nashville, Tennessee, United States, 37211
      • Coleman Regional Community Center - Parks & Rec Department

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Latina (self-defined, or born in Central or South America)
• Spanish-speaking and/or English-speaking,
• 18 years of age or older
• less than 24 weeks pregnant
• did or did not have a termination of a previous pregnancy before 20 weeks
• has not carried a pregnancy to term
• normal, overweight or obese (pre-pregnancy BMI >18.5 and <39)

Exclusion Criteria:

• non-Latina,
• non-Spanish-speaking or non-English speaking
• less than 18 years of age
• more than 24 weeks pregnant
• had a termination of a previous pregnancy after 20 weeks
• multiparous
• underweight (pre-pregnancy BMI < 18.5)
• morbidly obese (pre-pregnancy BMI ≥ 39)
• currently enrolled in another program that targets weight, physical activity, or nutrition

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Home visit; Home visits focused on preventable infant injuries	Behavioral: Home visit; Three home visits during third trimester and three during postpartum period until 6 months postpartum
Experimental: Social network building intervention; Healthy lifestyle intervention focused on building reciprocal social ties between the intervention group members	Behavioral: Social network building intervention; Group support and health education sessions weekly during third trimester and once every two weeks until 6 months postpartum

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Weight (kg)	gestational weight gain and postpartum weight loss	6 times over 10 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Body composition	BIA postpartum	3 times over 6 months
Infant feeding practices	duration of breastfeeding, use of supplemental fluids, overfeeding, timing of the introduction of solids	3 times over 6 months
Social network structure	number and type of relationships	6 times over 10 months
Waist Circumference		3 times over 6 months
Depression		6 times over 10 months
Nutrition	Fat/Fruit/Vegetable intake	6 times over 10 months
Physical Activity	self-report	6 times over 10 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Wake Forest University Health Sciences
• Collaborators: American Heart Association
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Sabina B Gesell, PhD, Wake Forest University Health Sciences

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: May 1, 2010
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 1, 2011
• Study Completion (Actual): August 1, 2011

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 3, 2010
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 3, 2010
• First Posted (Estimate): March 5, 2010

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 13, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 9, 2018
• Last Verified: August 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: breastfeeding; gestational weight gain; overfeeding; postpartum weight loss
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Body Weight; Body Weight Changes; Weight Loss
• Other Study ID Numbers: IRB00034677

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No