IT-Supported Early Treatment Of Childhood Overweight

The goal of this exploratory/ developmental study is to develop and evaluate an integrated information system, Healthy Eating and Activity Today (HEAT), for promoting self-care in overweight children. HEAT is comprised of two components: 1)Telephone Linked Care-HEAT (TLC-HEAT), a self-care intervention delivered at home through totally automated telephone conversations; and 2) Primary Care-HEAT (PC-HEAT), a primary care intervention linked with TLC-HEAT and delivered through an electronic health record (EHR). The HEAT system will guide children in the early stages of overweight, i.e., children with Body Mass Index (BMI) 0-3 BMI points above the 95th percentile for age and gender, toward healthy weight management and assist the child's parent(s) and primary care provider (PCP) to support the child's efforts.