Clinical trial NCT05979259: Examining the Impact of a Mobile Nutrition Education App for Child Nutrition Education in Canada
Official title: Efficacy of a Digital School-Based Nutrition Education Intervention to Improve Children's Healthy Eating Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviours
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Nutrition, Healthy
Keywords: Diet, Healthy
Digital Technology
Gamification
Health Education
School Health Services
Food Literacy
Lead sponsor: University of Ontario Institute of Technology
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
First posted: 2023-08-07
Enrollment: 672
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: This trial will test the hypothesis that a digital curriculum-based nutrition education intervention using the Foodbot Factory serious game (i.e., a game designed for learning) leads to greater student engagement and learning about nutrition, compared to conventional nutrition education (e.g., worksheets), among students in Grades 4 and 5 in Ontario, Canada. This hypothesis is based on existing research suggesting that digital serious games, when well-integrated into the classroom setting, promote greater student engagement, learning and knowledge retention.

Detailed description: This two-arm parallel cluster randomized controlled efficacy trial will determine if a digital curriculum-based nutrition education intervention (intervention group) leads to greater increases in overall nutrition knowledge compared to conventional nutrition education (control group) in Grade 4 and 4/5 classrooms after 1 week, and that it facilitates greater retention at 4 weeks and 3 months following the intervention period. Secondary outcomes include sub-scores of nutrition knowledge (i.e., knowledge of specific food groupings), nutrition attitudes, general child nutrition behaviours and dietary intakes. Due to the enhanced engagement serious games can provide, it is hypothesized that participants in the intervention group will show greater changes in and retention of their nutrition knowledge and nutrition behaviours. Twenty-eight Grade 4 and 4/5 classrooms in Ontario, Canada will be randomized to the intervention or control group. Participants in both groups will receive nutrition education lessons for 35-40 minutes a day for five consecutive days. Participants in the intervention group will use the Foodbot Factory serious game while participants in the control group will use conventional learning materials (e.g., worksheets, teacher-led instruction). Both interventions will have these learning materials integrated into standardized nutrition education lesson plans. Overall and sub-scores of nutrition knowledge, and nutrition attitudes will be assessed using the Nutrition Attitudes and Knowledge questionnaire. General child nutrition behaviours (e.g., frequency of eating meals outside the home) will be assessed using a modified version of the Family Nutrition and Physical Activity Screening Tool and dietary intake will be assessed using the Block Food Screener for Ages 2-17. At baseline, parents and classroom teachers will respectively complete demographic questionnaires to measure co-variates that may impact outcomes of interest (e.g., household food security, presence of school food programs).

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Grade 4 or 4/5 classroom
* Classroom is located in a participating school board in Ontario

Exclusion Criteria:

* Classroom has already covered the "Healthy Eating" component of the Ontario Physical Health Education curriculum

Primary outcomes:
measure: Overall nutrition knowledge
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and immediately post-intervention (Day 5).
measure: Overall nutrition knowledge
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and 4 weeks post-intervention.
measure: Overall nutrition knowledge
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and 3 months post-intervention.
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Drinks knowledge
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and immediately post-intervention (Day 5).
measure: Drinks knowledge
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and 4 weeks post-intervention.
measure: Drinks knowledge
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and 3 months post-intervention.
measure: Whole grain foods knowledge
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and immediately post-intervention (Day 5).
measure: Whole grain foods knowledge
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and 4 weeks post-intervention.
measure: Whole grain foods knowledge
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and 3 months post-intervention.
measure: Vegetables & fruit knowledge
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and immediately post-intervention (Day 5).
measure: Vegetables & fruit knowledge
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and 4 weeks post-intervention.
measure: Vegetables & fruit knowledge
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and 3 months post-intervention.
measure: Protein foods knowledge
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and immediately post-intervention (Day 5).
measure: Protein foods knowledge
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and 4 weeks post-intervention.
measure: Protein foods knowledge
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and 3 months post-intervention.
measure: Nutrition attitudes
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and immediately post-intervention (Day 5).
measure: Nutrition attitudes
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and 4 weeks post-intervention.
measure: Nutrition attitudes
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and 3 months post-intervention.
measure: Dietary intake
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and immediately post-intervention (Day 5).
measure: Dietary intake
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and 4 weeks post-intervention.
measure: Dietary intake
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and 3 months post-intervention.
measure: General nutrition behaviours
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and immediately post-intervention (Day 5).
measure: General nutrition behaviours
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and 4 weeks post-intervention.
measure: General nutrition behaviours
timeFrame: Measured at baseline and 3 months post-intervention.
measure: Intervention acceptability
timeFrame: Measured immediately post-intervention (Day 5).
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Oshawa
country: Canada
facility: University of Ontario Institute of Technology
state: Ontario
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Ontario Institute of Technology
name: JoAnne Arcand, PhD, RD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Brown JM, Savaglio R, Watson G, Kaplansky A, LeSage A, Hughes J, Kapralos B, Arcand J. Optimizing Child Nutrition Education With the Foodbot Factory Mobile Health App: Formative Evaluation and Analysis. JMIR Form Res. 2020 Apr 17;4(4):e15534. doi: 10.2196/15534.
citation: Froome HM, Townson C, Rhodes S, Franco-Arellano B, LeSage A, Savaglio R, Brown JM, Hughes J, Kapralos B, Arcand J. The Effectiveness of the Foodbot Factory Mobile Serious Game on Increasing Nutrition Knowledge in Children. Nutrients. 2020 Nov 6;12(11):3413. doi: 10.3390/nu12113413.
citation: Franco-Arellano B, Brown JM, Froome HM, LeSage A, Arcand J. Development and pilot testing of the Nutrition Attitudes and Knowledge Questionnaire to measure changes of child nutrition knowledge related to the Canada's Food Guide. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2021 Dec;46(12):1495-1501. doi: 10.1139/apnm-2021-0170. Epub 2021 Jul 21.