Clinical trial NCT06671964: The Impact of School-Based Intervention for 9-13-year-old School Children with Overweight and Obesity
Official title: The Impact of School-Based Intervention for 9-13-year-old School Children with Overweight and Obesity: Nutrition Knowledge, Attitudes, Self-Efficacy, Fruit and Vegetable Intake, and Anthropometry
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Overweight Children
Obese Children and Adolescents
Keywords: Overnutrition
Nutrition Disorders
Body Weight
Overweight
SchoolChildren
peer pressure
Lead sponsor: United Arab Emirates University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2024-11-04
Enrollment: 403
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 9
Maximum age (years): 13
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: 1. Educational sessions
2. Anthropometric measurements
3. Questionnaire
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: Childhood obesity is a major issue for the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Interventions modifying people's nutritional behavior and changing their dietary habits can potentially address this problem. This study assessed the effectiveness of the 6-month school-based nutritional educational intervention on fruit and vegetable intake, nutrition knowledge, anthropometric measures, and practice, attitude, and self-efficacy measures.

Detailed description: The problem of childhood obesity is a critical issue for the UAE. Findings of recent studies illustrate that nutritional interventions seeking to modify people's nutritional behavior and change their dietary habits have the potential to address this problem. This article reports the results of the study that was dedicated to the influence of the school-based nutritional educational intervention on fruit and vegetable intake, anthropometric measures, practice, attitude, self-efficacy, and knowledge scores of schoolchildren. The intervention was carried out among 9-13-year-old schoolchildren at public schools from Dubai and Sharjah (n=403). The sample included three groups, including the control group (n=114), Intervention Group 1 (n=148), and Intervention Group 2 (n=141). The control group was exposed to a conventional curriculum on healthy nutrition. Group 1 participated in the intervention involving children, and Group 2 participated in the intervention involving students, peers, and parents.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* WHO BMI-for-age growth charts, Students with BMI from the 85th to the 95th percentile were categorized as "overweight," and those who were above the 95th percentile were categorized as "obese"
* Attending Government school.
* Within Grades 6-9.
* Live in Dubai or Sharjah
* Female and male students

Exclusion Criteria:

* Students with BMI below the 85th percentile for the WHO BMI-for-age growth charts.
* Not attending a government school
* Living in another emirate (not Dubai or Sharjah)

Primary outcomes:
measure: Nutrition Knowledge and Self-Efficacy
timeFrame: 6 months
measure: Nutrition Knowledge and Self-Efficacy
timeFrame: 6 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Anthropometric Data
timeFrame: 6 months
measure: Anthropometric Data
timeFrame: 6 months
measure: Anthropometric Data
timeFrame: 6 months
measure: Anthropometric Data
timeFrame: 6 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Al Ain
country: United Arab Emirates
facility: United Arab Emarites University
state: Ain
Study officials:
affiliation: UAEU
name: Habiba Ali
role: STUDY_DIRECTOR
affiliation: Emarites School Establishment
name: ESE Research Office
role: STUDY_CHAIR
References:
citation: Hwalla N, Chehade L, O'Neill LM, Kharroubi S, Kassis A, Cheikh Ismail L, Al Dhaheri AS, Ali HI, Ibrahim S, Chokor FAZ, Mohamad MN, Ayesh W, Nasreddine L, Naja F. Total Usual Nutrient Intakes and Nutritional Status of United Arab Emirates Children (4 Years-12.9 Years): Findings from the Kids Nutrition and Health Survey (KNHS) 2021. Nutrients. 2023 Jan 2;15(1):234. doi: 10.3390/nu15010234.