Weight Management in Obese Pregnant Underserved African American Women

This project will test a novel lifestyle intervention to help overweight and obese socioeconomically disadvantaged African American women achieve healthy weight control during and after pregnancy and improve the health of their offspring. The treatment will be given through an existing national home visiting program, Parents As Teachers (PAT), which will facilitate sustainability and nationwide dissemination, if effective. We hypothesize that compared with standard PAT monitoring and counseling (PAT), women randomized to the lifestyle intervention program (PAT+) will have a lower percentage who exceed Institute of Medicine recommendations for gestational weight gain.