Dismantling the U.S. Social Norm of the "Kids' Food" Archetype (REACH Project)

Rutgers The State University of New Jersey

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Environmental Exposure; Food Selection

Treatments: Behavioral: Arts-based Ultra-processed Food Nutrition Education; Behavioral: Conventional Ultra-processed Food Nutrition Education

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06266533

Pro2023002473

Details and patient eligibility

About

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.

Full description

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. 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. 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.

Enrollment: 38 estimated patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18 to 85 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

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

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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38 participants in 2 patient groups

Conventional Nutrition Education

Active Comparator group

Description:

Conventional nutrition education

Treatment:

Behavioral: Conventional Ultra-processed Food Nutrition Education

Arts-based Nutrition Education

Experimental group

Description:

Arts-based nutrition education video production

Treatment:

Behavioral: Arts-based Ultra-processed Food Nutrition Education