Clinical trial NCT05863559: Super Chef - an Online Program Promoting the Mediterranean Dietary Pattern to Lower Income Families
Official title: Super Chef: Family Fun in the Kitchen!
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Feasibility
Diet, Healthy
Lead sponsor: Baylor College of Medicine
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: University of Pittsburgh
First posted: 2023-05-18
Enrollment: 88
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 10
Maximum age (years): 65
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: Two group randomized controlled trial - treatment, waitlist control
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: Given the limited effectiveness of single food group-targeted interventions to enhance child nutrition, a key component of current and future health, innovative approaches are needed. Healthy dietary patterns are emerging as an important intervention target, and the Mediterranean Dietary pattern has been particularly effective at reducing cardiovascular disease risk factors, a leading cause of death in the US. Since parents are the gatekeepers of the home food environment and influence child intake through food-related parenting practices, children enjoy cooking with parents, and home food preparation is associated with more healthful dietary intake. Therefore, the investigators propose to develop and assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of an online cooking intervention for parent-child dyads living in low-income households that promotes the Mediterranean dietary pattern and healthful food-related parenting practices.

Detailed description: Few interventions targeting single food groups have demonstrated long-term health success. The Mediterranean Diet dietary pattern has been associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), a leading cause of death in the US. Dietary behaviors established in childhood track into adulthood, suggesting that healthful dietary behaviors should be established during childhood. Children living in low-income households are at greater risk of CVD and generally have less healthful diets, indicating a need for interventions promoting more healthful dietary practices. Parents are the gatekeepers of the home food environment and influence children's dietary behaviors through parenting practices around food (i.e., modeling of eating behaviors, home availability).

Foods prepared and eaten at home have been associated with better diet quality. Cooking skills have been associated with home meal preparation, and children enjoy cooking with parents. Encouraging parents to involve children in home food preparation and using healthful food parenting practices may be an effective way to help children adopt a healthful dietary pattern. However, to promote behavior change, interventions should be convenient, enjoyable, and personally relevant. Since Internet use and access are prevalent, including among families with lower incomes, the proposed research will build on previous research with parent-child dyads from low-income households to develop an online cooking education intervention that promotes the Mediterranean dietary pattern and healthful food parenting practices. Once developed, the investigators will assess its feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy with 44 parent-child dyads. The results of this study have the potential to enhance child cardiovascular health and inform the design of digital interventions promoting sustainable dietary behaviors in at-risk children.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* a 10-12 years old child and a parent/caregiver
* family qualifies for free or reduced price meals at school
* reliable internet access
* resident of Texas
* fluent in English

Exclusion Criteria:

* major auditory or vision impairment
* lack of binocular vision
* history of seizure disorder
* claustrophobia
* vertigo
* psychiatric conditions (e.g., paranoia, manic depressive psychosis)
* prior dizziness or motion sickness when using virtual reality
* currently being treated with medications or medical condition that impacts dietary intake (e.g., cancer, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) or ability to participate in data collection (e.g., intellectual impairments)
* physician advice to modify diet for a current or ongoing health or medical condition
* eligible but child birth sex stratum (male, female) filled
* another parent or sibling participated in program development

Primary outcomes:
measure: Recruitment goal attainment as assessed by staff logs
timeFrame: pre-intervention
measure: Number of families who complete all phases of the study as assessed by staff logs
timeFrame: through study completion, an average of 10 weeks
measure: Parent satisfaction with the Intervention as assessed by a 10 item survey
timeFrame: immediately after the intervention
measure: Child satisfaction with the Intervention as assessed by a 10 item survey
timeFrame: immediately after the intervention
measure: Acceptability of wearing recording device at pre-intervention as assessed by agreement to wear a recording device
timeFrame: pre-intervention
measure: Acceptability of recording device immediately after the intervention as assessed by agreement to wear the device
timeFrame: immediately after the intervention
measure: Usability of recordings from device collected during pre-intervention data collection as assessed by staff logs
timeFrame: pre-intervention
measure: Usability of recordings from device collected during data collection immediately after the intervention as assessed by staff logs
timeFrame: immediately after the intervention
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change in autonomous motivation to help child learn to cook as assessed by the adapted Treatment Self-Regulation Motivation Questionnaire
timeFrame: immediately after the intervention
measure: Change in parent self efficacy to involve child in home food preparation as assessed by the adapted self-efficacy scale of the Cooking and Food Provisioning Action Scale
timeFrame: pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention
measure: Change in parent self efficacy to use food parenting practices as assessed by the Competence/Self-Efficacy for Vegetable Food Parenting Practices Scale
timeFrame: pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention
measure: Change in home food availability as assessed by parent completion of the Fulkerson et al Home Food Inventory
timeFrame: pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention
measure: Change in child involvement in home food preparation as assessed by parent response to the question used in the Eating and Activity over Time project (Project EAT)
timeFrame: pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention
measure: Change in child involvement in home food preparation as assessed by child response to the question used in Project EAT
timeFrame: pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention
measure: Change in child dietary intake as assessed by dietitian-assisted 24 hour dietary recalls
timeFrame: pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention
measure: Change in parent use of food parenting practices assessed by the Food Parenting Practice Item Bank
timeFrame: pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention
measure: Change in parent dietary intake as assessed by the Harvard food frequency questionnaire
timeFrame: pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention
measure: Objective assessment of change in parent use of food parenting practices assessed by device recordings obtained during food preparation
timeFrame: pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention
measure: Objective assessment of change in child involvement in food preparation assessed by device recordings obtained during food preparation
timeFrame: pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention
Other outcomes:
measure: Change in child height in inches as assessed by remotely observed parent assessment
timeFrame: pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention
measure: Change in parent height in inches as assessed by remotely observed self-assessment
timeFrame: pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention
measure: Change in child weight in pounds as assessed by remotely observed parent measurement
timeFrame: pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention
measure: Change in parent weight in pounds as assessed by remotely observed self-measurement
timeFrame: pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention
measure: Change in child blood pressure as assessed by remotely observed parent measurement
timeFrame: pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention
measure: Change in parent blood pressure as assessed by remotely observed self-measurement
timeFrame: pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention
measure: demographic and household characteristics of families participating in the intervention as assessed by standard survey
timeFrame: pre-intervention
measure: Household food security as assessed by the United States Department of Agriculture household food security questionnaire
timeFrame: pre-intervention
measure: Parent report of family use of food assistance programs as assessed by the food assistance program usage questionnaire.
timeFrame: pre-intervention
Locations:
city: Houston
country: United States
facility: Baylor College of Medicine
state: Texas
Study officials:
affiliation: USDA/ARS CNRC, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
name: Deborah Thompson, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: