Clinical trial NCT03118635: Effect of the Enhanced Summer Food Service Program on Schoolchildren
Official title: Assessing the Effect of the Enhanced Summer Food Service Program on the Health of Schoolchildren
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Pediatric Obesity
Keywords: Summer
Diet
Physical Activity
Sedentary behavior
Low-income
Lead sponsor: The Miriam Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Brown University
First posted: 2017-04-18
Enrollment: 85
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 6
Maximum age (years): 12
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: Convergent findings from several studies document that children, especially those who are already overweight or obese or from racial / ethnic minority groups, are at risk for accelerated weight gain during the summer months. Therefore, this project is comprised of three separate community-based interventions designed to increase access to healthy meals and physical activity opportunities to minimize excess summer weight gain in elementary school children from a diverse, low-income Rhode Island community. Specifically, we will complete a quasi-experimental study in which we will design and deliver a physical activity intervention in conjunction with the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) to 50 children living in a low-income, urban community. We anticipate that the addition of physical activity programming to the SFSP, a federal program funded by the USDA which reimburses states for serving lunch meals to children during the summer in communities where at least 50% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals, will increase both the acceptability and effectiveness of the SFSP and affect 1) physical activity levels, 2) sedentary behavior, and 3) diet quality. The primary outcome (change in BMI z-score) will be compared between the 50 kids enrolled in the active intervention and 50 children enrolled in the control condition, both recruited from the same community.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Low-income (defined as qualifying for free or reduced-price meals as part of the National School Lunch Program)
* Ages 6-12 years
* Ability of child to speak, read and write English (for purposes of assessment and intervention)
* Parent/guardian involvement
* Agreement to study participation
* Intent to participate in the SFSP in the upcoming summer

Exclusion Criteria:

* Medical condition that would interfere with participation in physical activity
* Enrolled in a camp or other physical activity based summer program.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in BMI z-score over the summer
timeFrame: Three months (summer)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Physical Activity
timeFrame: Cross-sectional measure taken for 7 days during the window of weeks 4-6 of the 8 week intervention
measure: Sedentary Behavior
timeFrame: Cross-sectional measure taken for 7 days during the window of weeks 4-6 of the 8 week intervention
measure: Energy intake
timeFrame: Cross-sectional measure taken for 7 days during the window of weeks 4-6 of the 8 week intervention
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Providence
country: United States
facility: The Miriam Hospital
state: Rhode Island
Study officials:
References:
citation: Evans EW, Bond DS, Pierre DF, Howie WC, Wing RR, Jelalian E. Promoting health and activity in the summer trial: Implementation and outcomes of a pilot study. Prev Med Rep. 2018 Feb 16;10:87-92. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2018.02.008. eCollection 2018 Jun.