Clinical trial NCT06266533: Dismantling the U.S. Social Norm of the "Kids' Food" Archetype (REACH Project)
Official title: Dismantling the U.S. Social Norm of the "Kids' Food" Archetype That Includes Ultra-processed Foods Such as Chicken Nuggets and Fries in the Newark, NJ Community
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Food Selection
Environmental Exposure
Lead sponsor: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2024-02-20
Enrollment: 38
Sex: FEMALE
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 85
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: Participants will be randomly assigned to a conventional nutrition education or an arts-based education group.
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: This project is the first stage of a health promotion campaign to shift social norms about marketing and feeding children ultra-processed foods. Embedded within a longitudinal ethnographic study using photo-elicitation techniques, mothers of preschool-age children will be randomly assigned to arts-based or traditional education about ultra-processed food.

Detailed description: 1. At baseline, describe how mothers of preschool-age children characterize food for children in their home and local environment and describe their knowledge of ultra-processed food.
2. To test different ways of providing nutrition education for increasing knowledge about children's nutrition and ultra-processed foods. Hypothesis: Both groups will correctly identify more ultra-processed foods post-education.
3. To learn in depth from mothers of preschool children about their perceptions of the food environmental culture (markets, advertising, health messaging, community norms, cultural norms, social norms) in Newark, NJ, through a series of focus group discussions about the mothers' photographs of the local food environment pre and post project.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* English-speaking
* African American or Black or bi-racial or multi-racial African American and Black mothers
* \>18 years
* Female
* Legal guardian of a preschool-age child (3-5 years) participating in the Leaguers, Inc.

Head Start programming.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Spanish-speaking
* Other racial and ethnic groups
* Fathers

Primary outcomes:
measure: Ultra-Processed Food Knowledge
timeFrame: 60 minutes
measure: Environmental assessment of ultra-processed food
timeFrame: 6 months
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Newark
country: United States
facility: Leaguers Inc. Head Start
state: New Jersey
Study officials:
affiliation: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
name: Pamela Rothpletz-Puglia, EdD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Sarmiento-Santos J, Souza MBN, Araujo LS, Pion JMV, Carvalho RA, Vanin FM. Consumers' Understanding of Ultra-Processed Foods. Foods. 2022 May 7;11(9):1359. doi: 10.3390/foods11091359.
citation: Andreassen P, Christensen MK, Moller JE. Focused ethnography as an approach in medical education research. Med Educ. 2020 Apr;54(4):296-302. doi: 10.1111/medu.14045. Epub 2020 Feb 16.
citation: Braun V, Clarke V. What can "thematic analysis" offer health and wellbeing researchers? Int J Qual Stud Health Well-being. 2014 Oct 16;9:26152. doi: 10.3402/qhw.v9.26152. eCollection 2014. No abstract available.