NCT02399436

Appalachians Together Restoring the Eating Environment

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 720 (actual)
• Sponsor: Mark Swanson, PhD · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: —
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Most of the nation's serious chronic health challenges and causes of death, including diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and obesity, are directly linked to sub-optimal diet. Both poor diets and associated disease are disproportionately common in the Appalachian counties of eastern Kentucky, a region with stark health inequities, including elevated rates of obesity, overweight, and premature mortality. The purpose of this pilot study is to evaluate a multi-component intervention developed through community-based participatory research methods for improving access to healthy foods and enhancing dietary intake in eastern Kentucky. The intervention components evaluated in this study consist of a social marketing campaign delivered to middle and high schools to promote healthy snacking and water consumption, and a series of group cooking classes for adults.

Detailed description

This pilot study evaluates two principal components of a community-based intervention to improve dietary habits and access to healthy foods: a school-based healthy snacking campaign and a series of community cooking classes for adults. The primary outcome assessed within each intervention component is dietary intake as measured by self-reported beverage and food consumption in pre-post surveys. Secondary outcome variables include attitudes, preferences, confidence, self-efficacy and other psychosocial variables related to healthy eating behaviors, perceptions of healthy food availability, food purchasing and preparation habits, and perceived barriers to healthy eating. The school-based intervention component employs a nonequivalent control group research design. A subset of middle- and high-schools within a single county in eastern KY will receive a healthy snacking campaign intervention, and students from randomly selected classrooms within these schools will be invited to enroll in the study. Students from middle- and high-school classrooms in a comparison county that receives no intervention will serve as nonequivalent controls. The investigators specific aims for this component are to improve the availability of healthy snack foods that students may purchase at school, increase student consumption of healthy snacks over unhealthy snacks, and increase the consumption of water over sugar-sweetened beverages. Following baseline, posttest surveys will be administered at 3, 6 and 14 months. Community cooking classes will be delivered to a non-random sample of adults who will complete pretest-posttest measures at baseline and 8 weeks. The specific aims of this component are to increase the consumption of healthy foods at home, and increase participant knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy around healthy home cooking.

Conditions

• Dietary Habits

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	School-Based Healthy Snacking Campaign	The school-based healthy snacking campaign includes the following activities: * Sales promotion of snack choices that meet federal Smart Snack guidelines during the school day and at school events, such as snack bars and after-school events; * The installation of new filtered water fountains outfitted with water-filling stations; * The distribution of re-usable water bottles to students at participating schools; and * A social marketing campaign to support adoption of the healthy snacks and water consumption by students.
BEHAVIORAL	Community Cooking Classes	Cooking classes will be delivered to groups of 8-12 adult participants as a series of 8 weekly classes in community venues. The content of each class is driven by topics and themes identified and prioritized by community members, namely cooking healthy on tight budget.

Timeline

• Start date: 2015-01-01
• Primary completion: 2016-07-01
• Completion: 2016-07-01
• First posted: 2015-03-26
• Last updated: 2017-04-19

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States