Eatable Alphabet as a Nutrition Education Tool

Northwell Health

Status: Invitation-only

Conditions: Child Overnutrition; Child Nutrition Disorders; Child Obesity

Treatments: Behavioral: Eatable Alphabet; Behavioral: Usual Care

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05166629

21-1152

Details and patient eligibility

About

This pilot randomized controlled trial will test the effectiveness of Eatable Alphabet cards, a child friendly nutrition education tool, on child weight and related behaviors in a clinical sample of 2 to 10-year-old children with overweight/obesity, referred to a pediatric weight management program.

Full description

The goal of this research study is to determine whether the use of Eatable Alphabet cards in addition to standard weight management in a primary care setting will increase vegetable consumption. Additional outcomes that will be examined include fruit consumption, child engagement in meal selection and preparation, and clinic follow-up. If the intervention shows a significant effect in the above outcome measures, Eatable Alphabet cards can be implemented as a standard component of obesity management in primary care settings. It is hypothesized that the intervention will increase vegetable consumption, increase child engagement in meal selection and preparation, and increase clinic follow-up.

The study design is randomized control trial, in which the control group includes parent-child dyads receiving care as usual in the weight management program, including nutrition education, and the intervention group includes parent-child dyads receiving care as usual in the weight management program plus Eatable Alphabet cards in addition to typical nutrition education. All study participants will be families receiving care at the POWER Kids Weight Management Program at 410 Lakeville Road, with the child between the ages of 2 and 10 who have overweight or obesity. The primary outcome is parent reported frequency of child vegetable consumption. Secondary outcomes include: parent reported frequency of child fruit consumption, parent reported child engagement in meal selection/preparation, follow-up weight management visit attendance, and child anthropometric outcomes.

Enrollment: 160 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 2 to 10 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• New patient at Cohen Children's Medical Center POWER Kids weight management program (defined as not having been seen by the program within the past 2 years)
• Child between the ages of 2-10
• English-speaking

Exclusion criteria

• No appropriate caregiver available for consent.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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160 participants in 2 patient groups

Usual Care

Other group

Description:

Usual care in the POWER Kids weight management program includes a nutrition assessment and education by a registered dietician nutritionist (RD). This includes taking a detailed dietary history, and providing individualized counseling, motivational interviewing, and nutrition education handouts/ web-based resources.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Usual Care

Eatable Alphabet

Experimental group

Description:

The intervention group will receive usual care, as described above, plus a set of Eatable Alphabet cards, which will be utilized during the visit for counseling and education, and given to the family to take home and use as they wish.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Eatable Alphabet