Ripple Effect of Lifestyle Intervention During Pregnancy on Partners' Weight

Lifestyle interventions targeting overweight individuals can produce positive "ripple"
effects on untreated overweight partners in the home. Interestingly, ripple effects on
partners' weight appear most pronounced when the interventions target women. Women, and
mothers in particular, remain the primary "nutritional gatekeepers" of the home. Despite
widespread recognition that motherhood is a powerful motivator for behavior changes, no study
to date has examined the "ripple" effects of prenatal lifestyle interventions that target
mothers' gestational weight gain. The primary aim of the proposed study is to determine
whether lifestyle interventions to prevent excessive gestational weight gain in
overweight/obese pregnant women have positive "ripple" effects on untreated partners in the
home. The proposed study is ancillary to two randomized phase III clinical trials in the
LIFE-moms consortium (1U01HL114377-01, PI Phelan; 3U01DK094463-03S1, PIs Pi-Sunyer and
Gallagher) that are examining the efficacy of multi-component lifestyle interventions to
prevent excessive gestational weight gain in a total of 650 overweight/obese women. In this
ancillary study, partners' weight, home environment, and psychosocial behaviors will be
assessed when their pregnant partners are ~13 weeks gestation (study entry), 35 weeks
gestation and at 6 and 12 months postpartum. We hypothesize that partners of pregnant women
randomized to the lifestyle intervention, relative to those of standard care, will have
greater weight losses through 12-months. Secondary aims examine partner improvements in
weight control behaviors, the home environment, and psychosocial parameters. This project is
highly innovative, as it capitalizes on existing funded research and is the first study to
examine ripple effects of multicomponent prenatal interventions. The project also has high
impact, as pregnancy is a powerful motivator for behavior and environmental changes in the
home; and, if positive ripple effects occur, the field of obesity treatment and prevention
could move beyond focus on individual level to the often unrecognized interpersonal effects
of lifestyle interventions. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This research project will examine
whether interventions to prevent excessive gestational weight gain have positive "ripple"
effects on the health of untreated partners in the home.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Man or woman who self-identifies as sharing an intimate relationship and cohabitating
in the home with the pregnant women (enrolled in the parent grant) for the previous 3
months or recently been married and living in the home

- ≥18 years

- willing to provide informed consent/assent

Exclusion Criteria: