Communicating with Head Start Parents about their Child’s Weight Status

Abstract

Head Start provides children with healthy, nutritious meals, physical activity opportunities, and health screenings, all of which are critical components of combatting early childhood obesity.  Communicating health screening information about a child’s weight status to parents is one way to engage families in childhood obesity prevention efforts.  The purpose of this article is to describe a multi-phase, iterative, and collaborative process that was used to develop and evaluate strategies for communicating with Head Start parents about their child’s Body Mass Index.  This article aims to inform other Head Start programs about acceptable, effective approaches that can be used to deliver height and weight screening results to families and educate Head Start staff so they are prepared to respond to parents’ inquiries about BMI letters.