Lynn Brann (NFS) PI and Rachel Razza (HDFS) co-PI, Cultivating Self-regulation and Healthy Food Intake: A Novel Mindful Eating Intervention for Children and Their Caregivers, CUSE Grant – Seed Grant. 7/1/21-6/30/23
Early self-regulatory skills, including self-regulation around food and appetite, serve as the foundation for children’s behavioral competence, and thus represent an important target of intervention for behavioral health. One intervention strategy that is particularly promising for promoting self-regulation among young children is mindfulness. The primary aim of this study is to develop a family- and caregiver-based mindfulness and mindful eating curriculum that can be used in a future intervention targeted toward preschool age children and their caregivers that focuses on enhancing general self-regulation and appetite self-regulation. The curriculum will be developed based on a thorough review of scientific literature to include and target aspects of self-regulation (general and appetite self-regulation) that have strong potential to impact behavior and weight and on the previous work of the researchers from a pilot study on mindfulness and mindful eating with preschoolers. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews will be conducted with parents of preschoolers and local childcare providers to test components of the curriculum and enhance feasibility of delivery and engagement.