Influence of Cultural Immersion on Willingness to Try Fruits and Vegetables Among Children in Guam: the Traditions Study

Summary

The purpose of the Traditions study was to examine the influence of cultural immersion on willingness to try fruits and vegetables among children, 3-12 y, in Guam. The primary objective of this study was to examine willingness to try fruits and vegetables and fruit and vegetable intake among children attending three existing summer camp programs: a cultural immersion camp, a university day camp, and a recreational sports camp. The primary hypothesis was that children attending the cultural immersion camp would have higher willingness to try fruits and vegetables (WillTry score) and a higher intake of fruits and vegetables compared to children attending both, the university day camp and recreational sports camp, without cultural immersion.

A pre-post, quasi-experimental design was used to evaluate 3 summer camps with different exposure levels of cultural immersion. High, moderate, and zero (cultural) exposure was provided by a cultural immersion camp (CIC), a university-based day camp (UDC), and a recreational sports camp (RSC), respectively. CIC delivered 4 culturally adapted nutrition lessons within the context of Chamorro cultural traditions as part of the cultural immersion camp activities. The UDC delivered the same lessons within a physiology framework. The RSC was without nutrition lessons and cultural immersion. Children 3-12 years old registered in any of the three summer camp programs were eligible to participate. Data collection was primarily administered at two assessment periods: before (± 2 weeks) and after (± 1 week) each summer camp program. Children's willingness to try fruits and vegetables, the primary outcome, was assessed with the interview-administered Adapted WillTry tool. The secondary outcome was fruit and vegetable intake as servings/day in the CIC to UDC only. Fruit and vegetable intake was assessed using the mobile food record (mFR), which is an app running on an iPod Touch based on the technology assisted dietary assessment (TADA) protocols. Outcomes examined Adapted WillTry post-scores for local novel and local common fruits and vegetables and fruit and vegetable servings/day using multivariate regression models adjusting for the relevant pre-score, sex, age, ethnicity, dose, BMI percentile, and parent's cultural affiliation. Therefore, additional measures like sociodemographic information, anthropometry (i.e. heights and weights), and parent's cultural affiliation were collected to account for potential confounders.

Conditions

• Food Preferences

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Cultural immersion

The primary intervention was the cultural immersion within CIC. Unique to the Traditions study were culturally-adapted nutrition lessons incorporated into CIC and UDC. CIC had a high cultural dose as the Traditions lessons were implemented within the cultural immersion context of the camp. The UDC had moderate cultural dose from the Traditions lessons only. RSC was without cultural immersion and Traditions lessons or had zero cultural dose.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Hawaii

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Guam

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Carol J Boushey, PhD · University of Hawaii Cancer Research Center

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

3 Years

Max Age

12 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2014-05-31

Primary Completion

2014-08-31

Completion

2014-08-31