Tundra Gifts: Harvesting Local And Regional Resources To Prevent Obesity Among Alaska Native Children In Remote, Underserved Communities

The long-term goal of this community based participatory research project is to prevent obesity in 3-5 year old Alaska Native children in remote communities.

Investigators will design and evaluate a culturally responsive, home-focused intervention, Tundra Gifts, that links early childhood education programming (i.e. Head Start) and federal food assistance programs (i.e. WIC and SNAP) with primary caregivers to support healthy eating and an active lifestyle using a cluster-randomized design. The intervention integrates behavior change theory with Indigenous traditional knowledge. Primary caregivers will attend monthly interactive education session, receive a monthly gift basket that includes resources and supplies to support behavior change at home and receive ongoing social support through a Facebook site. Investigators will also evaluate key process indicators of Tundra Gifts to understand the impact on outcomes of variations in persons and settings and to enhance the generalizability of findings.