Clinical trial NCT04372823: Promoting Nutrition and Physical Activity in Family Child Care
Official title: Promoting Nutrition and Physical Activity in Family Child Care
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Diet, Healthy
Physical Activity
Obesity, Childhood
Lead sponsor: University of South Carolina
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Johns Hopkins University
name: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
First posted: 2020-05-04
Enrollment: 300
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 2
Maximum age (years): 4
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: OTHER
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Family child care homes located in South Carolina and children ages 2-4 years enrolled in those homes.

Brief summary: The CHEER study takes advantage of a natural experiment happening in South Carolina (SC). The South Carolina Department of Social Services implemented new healthy eating and physical activity standards through a state-wide policy for family child care homes that participate in the ABC Grow Healthy program. Thus, CHEER is a quasi-experimental, two-group, pre-test/post-test design study.

Detailed description: The overall goal of the study is to evaluate new healthy eating and physical activity standards targeting family child care homes in South Carolina. To accomplish this goal, we are assessing the effects of the standards on the dietary intake and physical activity levels of racially diverse low-income children in family child care homes. The specific aims of the "CHEER" study are as follows:

Aim 1. Evaluate the extent to which the new regulatory standards impact children's dietary intake assessed via direct observation in homes and 24-hour recalls with parents, and physical activity and sedentary behavior assessed via accelerometry.

Aim 2. Evaluate the extent to which the new regulatory standards impact children's body mass index computed from researcher-measured height and weight.

Secondary Aim. Evaluate the extent to which family child care homes in the SC ABC Child Care Program comply with the new healthy eating and physical activity regulatory standards, compared to family child care homes not participating in the program.

We hypothesize that most homes will comply with the new standards, yielding improvements in children's healthy eating and physical activity levels. As an exploratory aim, we will examine the effects of the standards on children's weight status.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Having a child in care between the ages 2 and 4 years at recruitment
* The family is planning to stay in the same care arrangement for the next few years

Exclusion Criteria:

* Family planning to leave the care arrangement in next few years

Primary outcomes:
measure: Diet
timeFrame: Approx 1 year
measure: Physical activity
timeFrame: Approx every year for 2 years
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Body mass index
timeFrame: Approx every year for 2 years
measure: Family child care home environment
timeFrame: Approx every year for 2 years
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Baltimore
country: United States
facility: Johns Hopkins University
state: Maryland
city: Columbia
country: United States
facility: University of South Carolina
state: South Carolina
Study officials:
affiliation: University of South Carolina
name: Russell R Pate
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: