Promoting Child Inhibitory Control Skills Around Food

Summary

Today's environment provides many hedonic stimuli that promote consumption of unhealthy energy-dense snack foods. It is widely recognized that a systems approach is required to deal with this complex problem. However, individuals, particularly children, also need to develop the personal capacity to deal with tempting stimuli and inhibit responses to these energy-dense foods. Therefore in this proposal, we will focus on enhancing higher level executive functions, particularly inhibitory control, which is needed to counterbalance impulsive behavior and is crucial for growth and development. We have chosen to focus on developing inhibitory control in preschool-age children because executive functioning/inhibitory control and eating habits are developing at this time. Among preschool-age children, inhibitory control is fostered through social play-based curriculums and has been found to be related to greater school readiness and academic skills. Therefore, the goal of this proposal is to adapt a play-based curriculum, the Tools of the Mind program, to promote greater inhibitory control skills in preschool children and decrease consumption of energy-dense snack foods. In Phase I, we will develop and pilot a Child Inhibitory Control Play-based Program (CHIC Play) among children age 4- to 6-years old. We will adapt the learning tools used in the Tools of the Mind curriculum and employ naturalistic play scenarios, drawings (visual support), and games to teach children to inhibit their responses to energy-dense snack foods. Once developed, we will test the efficacy of CHIC Play in the preschool setting. Parent groups will also be conducted to support the adoption of these skills at home. The primary outcome of interest is caloric intake and age- and gender-adjusted percent of daily caloric intake as measured by the Eating in the Absence of Hunger (EAH) free access procedure and a snack time procedure. Inhibitory control skills will also be measured using executive functioning tasks. Feasibility and acceptability of this program will be determined from parent, child, and teacher surveys. The purpose of this study is to develop a new innovative method of decreasing energy-dense snack food consumption by promoting the development of inhibitory control or impulse control. If successful, this program has the potential to play a role in the treatment and prevention of childhood obesity.

Conditions

• Obesity

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

CHild Inhibitory Control (CHIC) Play

CHIC Play paradigm: Children will exposed to several play paradigms that enhance inhibitory control around snack foods. Children will receive the intervention in the preschool setting over a 3 week period.

BEHAVIORAL

Attention control

Children will receive an equal amount of time with the RA, but focus on other healthy behaviors and not use inhibitory control skills training techniques

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

  collaborator NIH

• University of California, San Diego

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

4 Years

Max Age

6 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2014-06-30

Primary Completion

2015-11-30

Completion

2015-11-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations