The Mountain West Prevention Resource Center’s (MW-PRC) core research project applies Dissemination and Implementation (D&I) Science to addresses barriers to engaging and enrolling families in Family Healthy Weight Programs (FHWP) in rural and small communities across Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.

We developed digital health strategies that facilitate community-clinic partnerships that reduce barriers to families’ awareness, access, and utilization of the evidence-based FHWP, Building Healthy Families (BHF). BHF was designed in partnership with, and from the perspectives of, community health implementation teams in rural and small communities. The BHF Online Training Resources and Program Package includes all necessary materials and training for rural and small communities to deliver the program.

Potential eligible families will be identified through partnering Community Health Clinics’ electronic health record. Automated outreach will be sent through text message to invite caregivers of children with obesity to self-enroll with a one-touch response and direct link to enroll in a locally delivered BHF program.

We will test two modes of text messaging, as caregivers will be randomized to receive either a single opportunity to enroll or repeated opportunities. In addition, we will text each text messaging condition with either active outreach from community implementation team members or without. Once families self-enroll, they will be again randomized to either receive only a weekly session reminder text message or to receive the text reminders and additional motivational and skill-building prompts.

Relative recruitment costs, differences in attendance and effectiveness of weight reduction based on the text message condition will be analyzed. We will also assess the number of families enrolled in BHF that have unmet social needs and are connected to community resources.