'Food, Fun, Fresh, Family' Program for Healthy Eating and Growth for Elementary-age Children.

Summary

The goal of this community-based randomized trial in elementary-aged children and a caregiver (parent/guardian) is to test the effect of providing families with produce and grocery store gift cards (family support) in conjunction with an after-school program for physical activity and healthy eating on improving children's overall diet, in comparison to the child only attending the after-school program without the family support.

Participating families will:

* receive weekly produce bags delivered to their home, recipes, and gift cards to a local grocery store (family support)
* the child will attend the after-school program during the school year

Researchers will compare the child's diet and eating scores with those in the after-school program alone.

Conditions

• Diet, Healthy Growth

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Family support

* Family tip sheets sent via mobile text at the start of the program and then every 3 weeks, to a total of 6 mobile text messages * Weeks 1-4 (4 weeks): i. Welcome package mailed in the first week of the program ii. Weekly: one 10-lbs box of produce iii. Recipes accompanying each box (sample recipe card attached to submission) iv. Bi-Weekly: Grocery store gift cards (2x USD 20, to a total of USD 40) * Weeks 5-19 (total of 10 weeks over the 19-week study timeline): i. An optional online form ("goal sheet") is sent to the parent/caregiver every other week (total 5) with questions about trying new FV items to be submitted in the next 7 days. As an incentive, a USD 10 gift card is sent to those who complete it (a potential total of USD 50). ii. Week 11: an extra USD 20 gift card in the week after a school holiday to re-engage participants due to the school-year break.

BEHAVIORAL

BGCAA's after-school program with CATCH curriculum

1. The whole BGCAA's after-school program runs for 3h, Mon-Fri for the school year across all sites where the organization offers the program. All children enrolled are expected to attend a minimum of 2x/week. 2. In the BGCAA's after-school program, children participate in active recreational time (approx. 60 min, offered 1x/week at a minimum) which is a mixture of free play, structured physical activity games, and/or sports activities (including soccer, football, and basketball). 3. Uniquely to sites participating in the study, BGCAA's staff will deliver selected CATCH (Coordinated Approach to Child Health) curriculum components in blocks of 45-60 min, 2x/week, as part of the after-school program. The curriculum will focus on healthy eating education and physical activity designed for elementary school-aged children. More information on CATCH at https://catch.org/ (accessed 8/11/2023)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Boys & Girls Clubs of the Austin Area

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University of Texas at Austin

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Maninder Kahlon, PhD · University of Texas at Austin

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

5 Years

Max Age

11 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-09-06

Primary Completion

2024-04-03

Completion

2024-08-01

Countries

• United States

Study Locations