Clinical trial NCT06928636: Supper Heroes: Examining the Impact of an Online Eating Intervention for Families
Official title: Supper Heroes: Randomized Controlled Trial to Examine the Impact of an Online Environmentally Friendly Eating Intervention for Families
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Eating Behaviors
Keywords: food waste
environmentally friendly
plant-based foods
Lead sponsor: University of Guelph
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2025-04-15
Enrollment: 330
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: This study will examine the effectiveness of the online family-based program focused on sustainable eating compared to weekly emails about environmentally friendly behaviours.

Detailed description: The investigators will conduct a family-level RCT following CONSORT guidelines: families will be randomly allocated into control and intervention groups. The control group will receive an email once a week for 7 weeks with information about environmentally friendly habits.

The intervention group will participate in the 7-week online Supper Heroes program consisting of 7 online "missions" completed over 7 weeks. Each mission includes tasks for families to complete, including reading infographics, watching short videos, participating in family-based activities, and sharing their progress. Parents will receive 2 text messages each week with information about the program. Families will also receive a toolkit to support their participation which will contain cookbooks, a potato brush, grocery planning tools, and a note that orients them to what is included. It will take approximately 1-2 hours per mission to complete all activities.

* Infographics: Each mission will contain brief, 1-2-page infographics for families to read. Topics are related to the mission theme for that week. For example, families may learn about tips for grocery shopping and meal planning as well as information about plant-based proteins.
* Videos: Similar to the infographics, short, 1-5-minute online videos will be related to the theme of the mission participants are completing. For example, families will watch a short, animated video about grocery shopping.
* Family-based activities: During each mission, participants will be invited to participate in a family-based activity such as follow-along cooking videos, doing an audit of their fridge, and creating a grocery shopping list.
* Sharing: Families will be asked to share their experiences for each mission on an online community share board by providing a photo and/or text.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* have at least one child 9-12 years old
* live in Ontario, Canada
* have access to the internet
* can respond to English surveys

Exclusion Criteria:

* parent(s) with prior nutrition and food education (e.g., degree in nutrition, culinary arts training)
* families with food allergies that would prevent them from participating in the intervention (e.g., soy products, beans or lentils)
* families who are vegetarian or vegan

Primary outcomes:
measure: Decrease in avoidable food waste
timeFrame: 15 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Increased intake of plant-based foods among parents and children.
timeFrame: 15 months
measure: Decreased intake of red and processed meats among parents and children.
timeFrame: 15 months
Other outcomes:
measure: Evaluate mechanisms of behaviour change.
timeFrame: 15 months
Locations:
city: Guelph
country: Canada
facility: University of Guelph
state: Ontario
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Guelph
name: Jess Haines, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: