Improving Toddlers’ Healthy Eating Habits and Self-regulation: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This cluster randomized controlled trial (CRCT)-designed study aimed to explore the feasibility of a promotion pamphlet and/or WhatsApp as a suitable mode of delivery to promote healthy eating habits with fruit and vegetables (F&V) among firefighters. Convenience and snowball sampling methods were used. Forty-five firefighters from 23 fire stations were recruited and they all received the printed pamphlet, while the intervention group participants (n = 20) received additional teaching material through WhatsApp every two weeks for eight weeks. Feasibility outcomes included retention, practicality, and implementation. The participants reported high levels of satisfaction with the intervention. There were significant improvements in the mean numbers of days consuming F&V (p = 0.002; p = 0.031) in the intervention group, and for fruit consumption (p = 0.033) in the control group between the baseline (T0) and 3 months after completion of intervention (T1). High levels of participants’ satisfaction with the intervention revealed that a full-scale CRCT of the WhatsApp-delivered intervention promoting healthy eating could be feasible, especially as a means of increasing the numbers of days they consumed F&V and the numbers of servings of these consumed per day.

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Evaluation of the Computer-Based Intervention Program Stayingfit Brazil to Promote Healthy Eating Habits: The Results from a School Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph16101674 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 16 (10) ◽

pp. 1674

Author(s):

Karine Brito Beck da Silva ◽

Naiá Ortelan ◽

Sheila Giardini Murta ◽

Isabel Sartori ◽

Ricardo David Couto ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Randomized Controlled Trial ◽

Healthy Eating ◽

Eating Habits ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Intervention Group ◽

Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial ◽

Randomized Controlled ◽

Healthy Eating Habits ◽

Cluster Randomized ◽

And Control

Interventions via the Internet are promising regarding the promotion of healthy habits among youth. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of an adapted version of StayingFit to promote healthy eating habits and the measurement adequacy of anthropometric markers among adolescents. A web school-based 12-month cluster-randomized controlled trial examining 7th to 9th grade students was conducted in twelve schools in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The schools’ students were randomly distributed into the intervention and control groups. The intervention group participated in StayingFit, an online program designed to encourage and guide healthy eating habits and control body weight. Data on food consumption, anthropometry, physical activity level, and sedentary behavior were collected from all of the students at the beginning of and after the 12-month study. Demographic and socioeconomic data were collected at baseline. The baseline data indicated high rates of overweight (14.4% overweight and 8.5% obese), insufficiently active (87.6%), and sedentary (63.7%). Furthermore, few adolescents regularly consumed fruits (18.8%) and vegetables/legumes (16.4%). Generalized estimating equations (GEEs) were used to evaluate the effect of the intervention. At the end of the follow-up period, students in the intervention group had a 43% increased chance of regularly consuming beans (OR = 1.43, 95% CIs = 1.10–1.86) and a 35% decreased chance of regularly consuming soft drinks (OR = 0.65, 95% CIs = 0.50–0.84). No differences were found between the groups studied with regard to the anthropometric parameters. Despite these modest results, the implementation of a web intervention can be beneficial and help promote positive changes in adolescent eating habits.

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A feasibility study of a WhatsApp-delivered Transtheoretical Model-based intervention to promote healthy eating habits for firefighters in Hong Kong: a cluster randomized controlled trial

Trials ◽

10.1186/s13063-020-04258-6 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Wing Man Ng ◽

Kin Cheung

Keyword(s):

Randomized Controlled Trial ◽

Hong Kong ◽

Feasibility Study ◽

Healthy Eating ◽

Transtheoretical Model ◽

Eating Habits ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Randomized Controlled ◽

Healthy Eating Habits ◽

Cluster Randomized

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An online-based intervention to promote healthy eating through self-regulation among children: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Trials ◽

10.1186/s13063-020-04685-5 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Paula Magalhães ◽

Cátia Silva ◽

Beatriz Pereira ◽

Gabriela Figueiredo ◽

Ana Guimarães ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Randomized Controlled Trial ◽

Outcome Measures ◽

Healthy Eating ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Self Regulation ◽

Intervention Group ◽

Online Intervention ◽

Assessment Protocol ◽

Randomized Controlled ◽

Over Time

Abstract Background Despite the enormous investment governments allocate to fight obesity, its worldwide prevalence is still on the rise. Moreover, the majority of the programs implemented are still targeting adults struggling with overweightness and focusing on transmitting knowledge about food. However, research shows that obesity prevention is more efficacious and cheaper, and beliefs about healthy eating have a stronger influence on eating behavior than declarative knowledge about food. In fact, knowledge about healthy eating only influences weight status when combined with self-regulation competences. Thus, the main goal of the current project is to develop and evaluate the efficacy of an online preventive intervention program, the HEP-S. This program is designed to promote and develop a set of transversal skills and strategies, related to self-regulation, on the healthy eating domain among school-aged children. Methods A three-armed randomized controlled trial will be conducted in several schools in Portugal. It will include a standard control group, with no intervention; an online intervention group, with the program for 20 weeks; and an enhanced online intervention group, with the program for 20 weeks embedded with gamification strategies throughout the program. Per research group, 40 groups of about 15 children each will be recruited and measured at five different time points. The three research groups will complete the same assessment protocol at the same timings (baseline, post-intervention, and 3, 6, and 9 months’ follow-ups). The assessment protocol will include anthropometric and psychological measures. The primary outcome measures will be the development of self-regulation skills for healthy eating over time, the development of self-efficacy attitudes, knowledge about healthy eating over time, and others. The secondary outcome measures will include the effect of gamification strategies, engagement, and satisfaction with the program, among others. The program will comprise the following: (i) a weekly group synchronous videoconference session with a trained educational psychologist serving as a mediator and (ii) a weekly parental involvement activity. Narratives, or story-tools, embedded with self-regulation strategies are at the core of the intervention. Discussion The program may play an important role in preventing risky and unhealthy eating behaviors by focusing on the development of self-regulation skills and strategies among elementary school children. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04099498. Registered on 23 September 2019.

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