The Online Advocate: Health Related Social Problems And Diet Quality Pilot Study

Summary

In this study, the investigators will be using The Online Advocate, a Web-based health-related social problems screening and referral tool, to explore the relationship between health-related social problems and children's diet quality among families with young children attending the Children's Hospital Primary Care Center. The Online Advocate consists of a 60-80 question screening survey for health-related social problems (such as food insecurity, employment and income, homelessness) and allows participants to select referrals for local health and social service agencies that might help them with the problems identified through the survey. Layered into The Online Advocate for this study is an adaptation of the Harvard Service Food Frequency Questionnaire (HSFFQ) that can assess children's diet quality. The investigators plan to recruit 350 parent/guardians of otherwise healthy children age 3-10 years who are presenting to the primary care center for routine well child care. Eligible parent/guardians will have the opportunity to take The Online Advocate (plus HSFFQ) on a laptop computer in the waiting area before seeing their pediatrician or healthcare provider. Participants will receive a small incentive for their time as well as written information on healthy nutrition and an age appropriate coloring book for the child. At one month, participants will be contacted by the study team by email or phone and asked follow up questions about the status of their health-related social problems identified through The Online Advocate and whether the referrals they received were helpful. Participants will receive a small incentive for their time, along with a reminder message promoting healthy nutrition for their child. At three months, participants will be contacted by the study team by email or phone and asked follow up questions about the status of their health-related social problems identified through The Online Advocate and whether the referrals they received were helpful. They will also re-take the adapted HSFFQ. Participants will receive another small incentive for their time. Participants will also have the opportunity to re-take The Online Advocate at three months, though this is optional. The investigators believe this pilot study will provide foundational knowledge about the intersection between health-related social problems and children's diet quality and may inform future research studies and interventions.

Our Study Aims are:

1. To use The Online Advocate to evaluate the association between health-related social problems and diet quality in children in a cross-sectional sample.
2. To evaluate the relationship between resolution of health-related social problems using The Online Advocate and change in diet quality in children over a 3 month period.

Our Study Hypotheses are:

1. A greater number of health-related social problems per family will be associated with poorer diet quality in children at baseline.
2. After 3 months, families demonstrating resolution of one or more health-related social problems addressed with The Online Advocate will demonstrate greater improvement in diet quality in children.

Conditions

• Children's Diet Quality
• Health-related Social Problems

Interventions

OTHER

The Online Advocate

The Online Advocate is a Web-based social problems screening and referral tool developed at Children's Hospital.

OTHER

The Online Advocate

The Online Advocate is a Web-based screening and referral tool for health-related social problems

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Boston Children's Hospital

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Joanne E Cox, MD · Boston Children's Hospital

• Clement J Bottino, MD · Boston Children's Hospital

• Erinn T Rhodes, MD, MPH · Boston Children's Hospital

• Eric W Fleegler, MD, MPH · Boston Children's Hospital

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

SCREENING

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2011-06-30

Primary Completion

2012-08-31

Completion

2012-08-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations