Pilot Study: The Effectiveness of a Mobile Application in Increasing Vegetable Acceptance

University of Helsinki

Status: Completed

Conditions: Eating Behavior; Healthy Nutrition

Treatments: Behavioral: Intervention arm

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05173311

19057

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the Mole's Veggie Adventures mobile application in increasing fruit and vegetable acceptance among 3-6-year-olds.

Full description

After the parents of the participating children had signed an informed consent and filled in the baseline questionnaires, the participating early childhood education and care (ECEC) centers (in Finland) or groups within the ECEC centers (in Poland) were randomly allocated into intervention and control arms. Researchers visited the intervention arm groups and introduced the application to the ECEC professionals. The ECEC professionals were instructed to use the application with a tablet computer at least one to two times a week during the intervention period (3-4 weeks) and to record the number of tasks completed by their group in a logbook. In addition, the research team recommended that each group focuses on at least six vegetables or fruits during the intervention period. The control arm groups were instructed to continue their normal routines during the intervention period and to refrain from introducing any novel food education methods during the intervention period.

Enrollment: 326 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 3 to 6 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• All children in the participating early childhood education and care (ECEC) groups

Exclusion criteria

• None

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

326 participants in 2 patient groups

Application use arm

Experimental group

Description:

The early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals in the intervention arm groups were instructed to use the application with a tablet computer at least 1-2 times a week during the intervention period (3-4 weeks) and to record the number of tasks completed by their group in a logbook. In addition, we recommended that each group focus on at least six vegetables or fruits during the intervention period.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Intervention arm

Control arm

No Intervention group

Description:

The control arm groups were instructed to continue their normal routines during the intervention period. They were instructed to refrain from introducing any novel food education methods during the intervention period.