Appalachians Together Restoring the Eating Environment: Improving Healthy Diet in Rural Appalachian Kentucky

Mark Swanson, PhD

Status: Completed

Conditions: Feeding Behavior; Drinking Behavior

Treatments: Behavioral: Community cooking classes; Behavioral: School-based water campaign

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT02996422

16-0245-P3H

U01MD010556 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

Most of the nation's serious chronic health challenges and causes of death, including diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and obesity, are directly linked to sub-optimal diet. Both poor diets and associated disease are disproportionately common in the Appalachian counties of eastern Kentucky, a region with stark health inequities, including elevated rates of obesity, overweight, and premature mortality. The purpose of this study is to evaluate a multi-component intervention developed through community-based participatory research methods for improving access to healthy foods and enhancing dietary intake in eastern Kentucky. The intervention components evaluated in this study consist of: 1) a school-based campaign to promote water consumption in middle and high schools and 2) a series of group cooking classes for adults.

Enrollment: 1,657 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 10+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• For school-based component: Student in selected middle or high school classroom in a participating school in intervention or comparison counties (6th to 12th grades)
• For cooking classes: adult aged 18 years or older and residing in intervention county who have at least one dependent child attending middle or high school in the participating school districts

Exclusion criteria

• Unable to speak or read English, as all materials will be presented in English

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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1,657 participants in 3 patient groups

School-based water campaign

Experimental group

Description:

Students who attend middle and high schools in the intervention counties will receive a school-based water campaign. A sample of students from each school will complete surveys before and after the installation of the water refilling stations to measure beverage consumption, knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy.

Treatment:

Behavioral: School-based water campaign

Comparison schools

No Intervention group

Description:

A sample of students who attend middle and high schools in the comparison county, which does not receive any intervention components, will complete surveys to measure beverage consumption, knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy.

Community cooking classes

Experimental group

Description:

Adults in the same intervention counties as the school-based water campaign will enroll in group cooking classes. They will complete a baseline and two follow-up surveys to measure changes in fruit and vegetable consumption, attitudes, and self-efficacy.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Community cooking classes