FIVALIN: A family-based intervention to prevent childhood obesity in low-income families
About this good practice
Childhood obesity is one of the major concerns for public health systems. Spain is within the European countries with a highest childhood obesity prevalence reaching almost 2 of 10 children aged 6 to 9 years old and more than 1 of 10 for children and adolescents aged 8 to 16. There is a tremendous need of finding effective interventions capable of preventing the incidence of obesity and family-based interventions could provide hope.
The FIVALIN project is implemented by the Gasol Foundation staff in collaboration with the staff of community child centres (CCC) commonly managed by social entities. The project consists in 32 sports sessions addressed to children, 8 family workshops and a set of healthy materials and resources addressed to engage them to a healthy lifestyle.
The project started locally with only 3 CCC during its pilot edition (scholar year 2018-2019), has been scientifically evaluated during 5 editions (19-20 / 20-21 / 21-22 / 22-23 / 23/24) and, after obtaining very positive results, now is ready to be scaled up to most disadvantaged communities in SPAIN (n = 600) through funds obtained by the European social fund (112M€) addressed to nourish the National Strategic Plan to Reduce Childhood Obesity promoted by the Spanish government.
The main stakeholders are the CCC and their staff of these CCC’s (social educators, psychologists, etc). The Gasol Foundation staff. Beneficiaries are children aged 8 to 12 years old and their families.
Resources needed
To implement the project are needed approximately 500€ per participant family (child + 1 adult) per edition.
Evidence of success
A controlled trial was carried out over five editions. By comparing the evolution of participants in the intervention group versus the comparison group, we demonstrated that FIVALIN had short-term effects (6 months). The results show that the intervention helped reduce the age-adjusted body mass index, decreased the risk of overweight, and significantly increased the time spent on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. This increase amounts to almost 60 additional hours of exercise per year.
Potential for learning or transfer
The FIVALIN project started to be piloted locally (Sant Boi de Llobregat) with all the workshops implemented by Gasol Foundation (GF) staff. The resources were obtained directly from the GF budget. After obtaining the financial support of Nike, the project was scientifically evaluated during 5 editions in the Catalan Region counting with the participation more than 100 CCC’s mainly located in Barcelona and its metropolitan area. After obtaining very positive results regarding the short-term effects of the intervention, the project is ready to be scaled up to most disadvantaged communities in Spain thanks to the support of the European Social Fund addressed to nourish the National Strategic Plan to Reduce Childhood Obesity. Moreover, the scientific evaluation of this project is starting in Los Angeles County, USA, where the GF have a headquarter.
After this scalability, probably the project will be ready to be translated and culturally adapted to other EU countries.
Further information
Discover FIVALIN project!
Images
Documents
FIVALIN study Protocol.pdf
Website
Good practice owner
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