Promoting Nutrition and Physical Activity in Family Child Care (FCCH)

University of South Carolina

Status: Completed

Conditions: Physical Activity; Obesity, Childhood; Diet, Healthy

Treatments: Behavioral: Policy/program

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT04372823

R01HD093784 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Pro00066175

Details and patient eligibility

About

The CHEER study takes advantage of a natural experiment happening in South Carolina (SC). The South Carolina Department of Social Services implemented new healthy eating and physical activity standards through a state-wide policy for family child care homes that participate in the ABC Grow Healthy program. Thus, CHEER is a quasi-experimental, two-group, pre-test/post-test design study.

Full description

The overall goal of the study is to evaluate new healthy eating and physical activity standards targeting family child care homes in South Carolina. To accomplish this goal, we are assessing the effects of the standards on the dietary intake and physical activity levels of racially diverse low-income children in family child care homes. The specific aims of the "CHEER" study are as follows:

Aim 1. Evaluate the extent to which the new regulatory standards impact children's dietary intake assessed via direct observation in homes and 24-hour recalls with parents, and physical activity and sedentary behavior assessed via accelerometry.

Aim 2. Evaluate the extent to which the new regulatory standards impact children's body mass index computed from researcher-measured height and weight.

Secondary Aim. Evaluate the extent to which family child care homes in the SC ABC Child Care Program comply with the new healthy eating and physical activity regulatory standards, compared to family child care homes not participating in the program.

We hypothesize that most homes will comply with the new standards, yielding improvements in children's healthy eating and physical activity levels. As an exploratory aim, we will examine the effects of the standards on children's weight status.

Enrollment: 300 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 2 to 4 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Having a child in care between the ages 2 and 4 years at recruitment
• The family is planning to stay in the same care arrangement for the next few years

Exclusion criteria

• Family planning to leave the care arrangement in next few years

Trial design

300 participants in 2 patient groups

Comparison

Description:

Comparison children within family child care homes not exposed to policy/program

Intervention

Description:

Intervention children within family child care homes exposed to policy/program

Treatment:

Behavioral: Policy/program