Preschoolers with CF Benefit When Parents Learn to Optimally Address Behavioral and Nutritional Needs
Researchers in the Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology have discovered that in-person and telephone intervention programs designed for parents of preschool children with cystic fibrosis (CF) can help the children improve their eating habits and daily calorie intake – a major challenge in meeting the important nutritional needs and critical growth milestones known to improve their survival into adolescence.
Parents who participated in the behavior- and nutrition-focused sessions for six months learned about food records, mealtime behaviors, energy intake goals, snacking, directed praise of the child when eating, strategies for introducing new foods and other tactics to help their children meet their daily calorie needs and the specific enzyme/nutritional demands of CF, a chronic respiratory disease.
The children’s’ food intake increased by 485 calories a day and met 140 percent of the dietary recommendations for an active preschool child, according to the May 4, 2015 study in JAMA Pediatrics. Children whose parents participated in the program also experienced increases in scores for height milestones, but not weight, according to the multi-center study led by Scott Powers, PhD, ABPP. The study, involving parents of 78 children from seven CF centers across the United States (including Cincinnati Children’s), compared results from the behavior-nutritional intervention program against a control group of parents who received basic education about their children’s nutritional and enzyme needs, respiratory control, growth milestones and child safety.
“Our most important findings are that clinical trials can be successfully executed in this age range across multiple centers, and that intervention has an impact on change in growth in this age group,” says Powers. “Our hope is that this type of evidence will become part of routine care and be incorporated into the new CF Foundation Preschool Care Guidelines to be used by CF centers in the U.S.”
