Stakeholder Perspectives on Remote Delivery of a Group-Based Child Obesity Prevention Program for Latino Families With Low Income.

OBJECTIVE

To explore attitudes and preferences related to remote nutrition education programming for Latino families in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and primary care.

DESIGN

Community-engaged, qualitative, thematic analysis of interviews and focus groups.

SETTING

Prenatal and pediatric primary care and WIC sites in Manhattan, Queens, and Nassau Counties, New York.

PARTICIPANTS

Four stakeholder groups: (1) past participants of a primary care-based obesity prevention program (Starting Early Program Prenatal) for Latino families that transitioned to remote delivery because of coronavirus disease 2019 (n = 40), (2) Latina WIC participants, including pregnant women and mothers of young children (n = 40), (3) Starting Early Program Prenatal staff (n = 6), and (4) WIC staff (n = 16).

PHENOMENON OF INTEREST: Attitudes and preferences related to in-person vs remote nutrition education programming.

ANALYSIS: Focus groups and interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for emergent themes using reflexive thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Four themes emerged: (1) valuing in-person social connection while recognizing barriers to in-person gathering, (2) navigating distraction-related barriers to remote engagement, (3) consistent content delivery but uncertain quality of remote programs, and (4) coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic-related contextual factors.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Future remote programs in WIC may benefit from incorporating opportunities for social interaction, explicit discussion of anticipated barriers, and strategies to overcome them.