PROSPER & Lifestyle Triple P

The Prevention Research Center applied and received a grant that would allow us to test the effectiveness of the Lifestyle Triple P program in two PROSPER sites, Jim Thorpe and Wyoming Valley West.  If this small project demonstrates that the program is feasible and effective for families in central Pennsylvania, we could then use this information to develop a large-scale project.

Lifestyle Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) is a parent-focused intervention designed for parents of overweight children.  It was developed in Australia by Dr. Matt Sanders, who has developed a large menu of Triple P programs.  Lifestyle Triple P involves nine, 90-minute parent group meetings and three 20-minute follow-up phone calls.  It teaches positive parenting techniques (e.g., effective limit-setting, how to be consistent, how to reward positive behavior, etc.) specifically around eating, sedentary behavior (e.g. TV and video games), and healthy lifestyle choices.  Parents are provided with a work book that they use to practice skills in between sessions, a cook book with healthy recipes, and a family activity guide that provides alternatives to sedentary activities.  In Australia, this program was evaluated and found to reduce problem behaviors around eating and sedentary activity, and also reduce the BMI’s of overweight children.  Currently, LTP, is one of the few obesity prevention programs for children that has any evidence of effectiveness.

The pilot project involves implementation of Lifestyle Triple P with 48 families of overweight children in grades 1-4 in each of two PROSPER communities.  First, the local PROSPER team in partnership with their school district will identify two individuals to serve as program facilitators.  During  the summer of 2012, the facilitators participated in a 3-day training to become certified in LTP. 

In December of 2012, families will be recruited by the schools and by the PROSPER team. Once recruited, families will be randomly assigned to an immediate intervention or to a wait-list condition.  Pre-intervention measures of parenting, child behavior, family activity and eating habits, and child BMI will be collected.  Parents will receive a small monetary compensation for the time they spend completing the measures.

Program will start in January, 2013.  In the fall of 2013, the program will be offered to the 24 wait-listed families in each community.