Candida Hunt, HENRY Programme Director

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• Candida Hunt, HENRY Programme Director
• Professor Mary Rudolf, Consultant Paediatrician
• Professor of Child Health, Leeds PCT
• and University of Leeds

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Why the need?

• Overweight children are at risk of numerous
  lifelong physical and emotional health problems
• Practitioners working with children and families
  are under pressure to meet obesity reduction
  targets
• Our research indicates a real need to improve
  practitioners confidence and enhance their
  effectiveness when working with young families
  around obesity and lifestyle issues
• We need to protect children from the obesogenic
  environment
• It is harder for overweight children to be a
  healthy weight later in life

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Why focus on the very young?

• Infants who gain weight rapidly in the first year
  are 6 times more likely to be obese later
• Infants who are obese by 2 years of age are up to
  10 times more likely to be obese later
• Overweight babies and toddlers are 5 times more
  likely to become obese during primary school
• By school entry 1 in 4 children are already
  overweight or obese
• Habits are established very early in life, so a
  healthy lifestyle is a family affair from the
  start

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Supporting the national agenda

• Every Child Matters outcome Be Healthy
• Healthy Child Programme (CHPP)
• Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives
• Health Inequalities Progress and Next Steps
• Healthy Lives, Brighter Futures
• Childrens Plan Childrens Centres PI on
• reducing obesity
• Funded by DH and DCSF, hosted by RCPCH
• Winner of the ASO Best Practice Award 2008
• DH Child Weight Management Training Providers
  Framework

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Pointers from research

• Some evidence-based clues
• Links between parenting and obesity
• Infant feeding breast and bottle
• Parenting styles and feeding styles
• Food preferences
• Appetite regulation
• The influence of TV
• The messenger is even more important than the
  message

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Parenting and feeding styles
being in charge
being responsive
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A moments reflection

• Information and motivation
• what we know and what we do
• How easy is it to change?

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HENRYs helping hands

• ?
• Healthy lifestyle HENRY approach
• Knowledge Attitudes/skills

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The HENRY approach

• Attitudes and skills
• Practitioners warmth, genuineness, empathy
• Partnership between parents and practitioners
• Highlights parents strengths
• Focuses on solutions rather than problems
• Knowledge
• Parenting for a healthy lifestyle
• Healthy eating habits
• Healthy nutrition

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What HENRY offers

• Training for practitioners to enhance their
  confidence, skills and knowledge in promoting a
  healthy lifestyle 1-to-1 with young families
• E-learning course
• Further training in group facilitation skills
• Support for Childrens Centres in developing
  community resilience to the obesogenic
  environment
• Lets Get Healthy with HENRY 8-week course for
  groups of parents that promotes a healthy
  lifestyle within a framework of emotionally
  healthy parenting
• Training for trainers scheme for local
  dissemination and sustainability
• Informative, entertaining resources

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Building confidence

• Trainees are asked
• to assess their own
• level of confidence
• in talking with
• parents about
• childhood obesity
• and healthy lifestyle
• issues before and
• after training.

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Contact us

• info_at_henry.org.uk
• www.henry.org.uk
• www.ukvirtual-college.co.uk