A Healthy Lifestyle Intervention for Hispanic Families: Moderating Effects of Education, Income, Nativity

Objective: To explore the moderation effect of parental social determinant factors-educational attainment, income, and nativity-on intervention effects of a family-based lifestyle intervention, Familias Unidas for Health and Wellness (FUHW).

Design: Longitudinal analysis across 6- and 24-months postbaseline of a randomized controlled trial.

Participants: Two-hundred and eighty primary caregivers.

Analysis: Moderation analysis was used to examine the interactive effects between intervention effects and social determinant factors.

Main outcome measures: Parental body mass index, added sugar intake, sugar-sweetened beverage intake, and fruits and vegetable intake.

Results: Findings indicated that FUHW effects on added sugar intake were moderated by educational attainment (P = 0.006), income (P = 0.023), and nativity (P = 0.024). In addition, FUHW effects on sugar-sweetened beverage intake were moderated by parent education (P = 0.042).

Conclusions and implications: This study suggests that FUHW may be helpful in reducing added sugar and sugar-sweetened beverage intake for Hispanic parents who face social determinant factors-educational attainment, income, and foreign-born status-that may influence their dietary behaviors. By including demographic information in intervention development, effects may be enhanced by ensuring that considerations related to participants' socioeconomic and cultural status are incorporated into intervention components and help reduce overweight and obesity.