Parents Together: Supporting Parents to Promote Healthy Behaviours in Children

The Hospital for Sick Children

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Child Eating Behaviours; Parenting; Child Nutrition; Early Child Development

Treatments: Behavioral: Parents Together parenting course

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06389084

179939

Details and patient eligibility

About

The Parents Together trial aims to determine if the Parents Together program consisting of virtual parent group sessions and coaching calls, will result in better health outcomes for children. The program which is facilitated by a Public Health Nurse seeks to encourage healthy lifestyle behaviours, help build strong family relationships, and promote child development and mental health.

Full description

This study will determine whether an intervention combining group-based parenting skills training and public health nurse coaching calls with a focus on healthy eating behaviours and nutrition, activity and sleep, compared to regular health care will lead to improved eating behaviours, movement behaviours, health and mental health in children aged 2-5 years and their caregivers.

Healthy children will be identified through primary care practices participating in The Applied Reearch Group for Kids (TARGet Kids!). Families who participate in this study will be randomly assigned to one of the two study groups that will run for 6-months:

Group A: Receive 8 weeks of group parenting education sessions and up to 4 public health nurse coaching calls. Group B: Receive regular health care.

Enrollment: 128 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 2 to 5 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Child enrolled in the The Applied Reearch Group for Kids (TARGet Kids!) cohort study Family is able to participate in English

Exclusion criteria

Children with a sibling already enrolled in the study Children with severe developmental delay or disability

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

---

128 participants in 2 patient groups

Intervention/treatment

Experimental group

Description:

One or two caregivers of each enrolled child will attend an 8-week virtual parent/caregiver education program delivered by a Public Health Nurse. Additionally, the Public Health Nurse will deliver up to 4 individual coaching calls designed to address participant-identified goals related to the group content. The coaching calls will focus on helping to apply the messages and skills from the group sessions and making community connections.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Parents Together parenting course

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants randomized to the control group receive regular health care.