The SmartFeeding4Kids: Study of a New Web-based Food Parenting Intervention

Summary

This research aims to develop and study the efficacy of a web-based brief intervention, Smart Feeding4Kids, to promote healthy dietary patterns in young children (2 to 6 years old) through changes in parents' feeding practices. The intervention is grounded on self-regulation and habit-formation models and combines the use of several effective behavioral methodologies. The multidisciplinary team integrates experienced researchers on parenting interventions, child nutrition, and the development of online applications to support personalized nutritional assessment and psychological interventions. The monitoring of the use of the platform and the knowledge about the predictors of efficacy, adherence, and involvement obtained in this project will offer professionals essential information to the development of future online interventions. The project will also contribute with knowledge concerning the most effective methodologies for changing parental feeding practices and collects unique information about the eating habits and practices of parents of Portuguese children.

The main hypotheses of the study:

1. parents who enrolled in behavior change and social support interventions will report significantly higher use of effective feeding practices (child's self-regulation intake practices, food availability, and accessibility practices) and significantly lower use of ineffective feeding practices (food control, restriction, and permissiveness feeding practices);
2. children whose parents enrolled in behavior change and social support interventions will have a significantly more frequent intake of vegetables and fruits intake, and significantly less frequent intake of sugar-sweetened foods and beverages;
3. positive changes in parental feeding practices will mediate children's food intake, with increased vegetables and fruits and decreased sugar-sweetened foods and beverages intake.

Conditions

• Parental Feeding Practices and Children's Healthy Diet

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Behavioral change intervention;

Behavioral change intervention: goal setting, regarding child's diet and parental feeding practices; self-monitoring, with observation and recording of the child's food intake and parental feeding practices; individualized feedback, based on preceding week monitoring and according to the defined objectives, regarding child's and parent's behaviors; modeling and direct suggestions by tailored parent figures; positive reinforcement associated to parents' accomplishment of the objectives; prompts, to remember the defined objectives and the main messages of the intervention.

BEHAVIORAL

Health Education

Health education: provision of information about preschool children's nutrition guidelines, effective parental feeding practices, strategies to overcome food and feeding-related barriers, and steps to form healthy habits.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Centro de Investigação em Ciência Psicológica, Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• FCiências.ID, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Lisbon

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Luisa Barros · University of Lisbon

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

TRIPLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-07-13

Primary Completion

2023-12-31

Completion

2023-12-31

Countries

• Portugal

Study Locations