Clinical trial NCT00949637: Scouting Nutrition and Activity Program
Official title: A Site-Randomized Controlled Trial for Health Promotion in Girl Scouts: Healthier Troops in a SNAP
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Obesity
Keywords: obesity prevention
girl scouts
physical activity
family meals
fruits and vegetables
health promotion
Lead sponsor: Kansas State University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: The Sunflower Foundation
First posted: 2009-07-30
Enrollment: 76
Sex: FEMALE
Minimum age (years): 8
Maximum age (years): 12
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention designed to prevent obesity by improving the environmental characteristics of Girl Scouts troop meetings.

Detailed description: Girls and parents affiliated with Girl Scouts Juniors programs completed a questionnaire prior to the beginning of an intervention program, and again after the program. Children responded to previously validated questionnaire items assessing demographics, parent-child connectedness, parent-child physical activity, screen time usage, family meal-time environment, consumption of fruits and vegetables, soda, and fast food. Parents completed a similar questionnaire, assessing demographics, parent-child connectedness, parent-child physical activity, family mealtime environment, parenting style and parenting practices. Children were also assessed on height and weight to characterize their risk for overweight status. Questionnaires and environmental observations were used to assess the effectiveness of an intervention designed to improve the family meal-time environment at home, as well as helping to assess the relationships between parental factors and family health-related behavior.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Girls had to be attending members of Girl Scouts in one of our included troops.
* The troop needed to be a registered Girl Scouts Juniors troop, consisting of girls primarily in the 4th and 5th grades.
* To be officially registered, the troop leaders were required to complete Girl Scout leader training and pass a criminal background check.
* To be included, the troops also needed to meet at least twice per month, have meeting facilities capable of allowing physical activity and food preparation.
* Also, troops needed to have initial agreement of leaders and parents for the troop to participate in a research study.

Exclusion Criteria:

* An inability to speak or read English.
* Troops not primarily composed of Girl Scouts Juniors, not regularly meeting during the study period, or not having leader and parental consensus approval for troop participation.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Body mass index percentile ranking
timeFrame: 5 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Obesity-related behaviors
timeFrame: 5 months
measure: Troop environmental encouragement and opportunities for healthful eating and physical activity
timeFrame: continuous
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Manhattan
country: United States
facility: Kansas State University
state: Kansas
Study officials:
affiliation: Kansas State University
name: Richard R. Rosenkranz, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Rosenkranz RR, Behrens TK, Dzewaltowski DA. A group-randomized controlled trial for health promotion in Girl Scouts: healthier troops in a SNAP (Scouting Nutrition & Activity Program). BMC Public Health. 2010 Feb 19;10:81. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-10-81.