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Parent website engagement and health equity implications in a child care-based wellness intervention
Ezran, M., Trude, A. C. B., Hepworth, A. D., & Black, M. M. (2021). Parent website engagement and health equity implications in a child care-based wellness intervention. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 53(8), 654-662. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2021.03.003
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate demographic differences in parent website engagement in a child care-based wellness intervention.
DESIGN: Parent-reported demographic characteristics and observed website engagement were averaged by child care centers participating in the web-based intervention arm of a cluster randomized controlled trial of wellness interventions.
SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Parents of preschoolers in 17 Maryland child care centers.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Website engagement: (1) webpage views, (2) average time on webpage, and (3) intervention activity completion.
INTERVENTION: Parents received access to a website containing content on wellness-promoting topics (eg, parenting, nutrition, physical activity) and their child care center's activities.
ANALYSIS: Cross-sectional differences in website engagement by demographic characteristics were assessed using ANOVA.
RESULTS: Centers with a high proportion of parents who identified as other than non-Hispanic White and had less than a bachelor's degree had significantly fewer webpage views, and completed significantly fewer intervention activities compared with centers with parents who were predominantly non-Hispanic White and had more than a bachelor's degree.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Demographic differences in parents' child care center website engagement represent disparities that could contribute to health inequities in parents' access to wellness-promoting material. Future efforts could identify factors that eliminate demographic disparities in parent engagement in web-based interventions.
