NCT03215485

WAVE~Ripples for Change: Obesity Prevention in Active Youth

The WAVE~Ripples for Change: Obesity Prevention in Active Youth in Afterschool Programs Using Virtual- and Real-World Experiential Learning

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 498 (actual)
• Sponsor: Oregon State University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 14 Years – 19 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Intervention targets youth ages 14 - 19 participating in soccer teams. The intervention group will be given face to face nutrition lessons and have access to an online immersive learning environment. The comparison group will not. The project will test if the immersive learning environment is effective in preventing unhealthy weight gain.

Detailed description

Active youth are just as likely to develop poor dietary habits that can contribute to obesity later in life, after high school sports has ended. However, youth in sports may provide a key "window of opportunity" to teach them about eating health foods if that information is tied to sport performance. This project will test to see if that is true. The virtual world is an idea medium for learning for this project. The project will test whether it indeed can result in behavior change more effectively than just more traditional face to face learning.

Conditions

• Childhood Obesity Prevention

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Nutrition lessons	Face-to-face interactive group lessons delivered in the classroom.
BEHAVIORAL	Virtual world learning environment	Every participant has their own unique avatar in the virtual world learning environment named Rippleville. They can choose to complete quests, watch archived nutrition video lessons, explore, and socialize with other avatars. They receive rewards (Rippleville dollar and badges) for their efforts.
OTHER	Newsletter	All participants in the intervention and comparison groups receive up to 10 professional newsletters on topics related to sports nutrition and performance, healthy eating and active living tips.

Timeline

• Start date: 2014-08-01
• Primary completion: 2018-09-01
• Completion: 2018-12-31
• First posted: 2017-07-12
• Last updated: 2022-04-04