NCT05455190

Parks & Pediatrics Fit Together

Parks & Pediatrics Fit Together: Translating Knowledge Into Action for Child Obesity Treatment in Partnership With Parks and Recreation

• Status: Active Not Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 400 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Duke University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 5 Years – 12 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The proposed project will test an implementation strategy (the "TrailGuide") for delivering an existing model of pediatric obesity treatment ("Fit Together") that has demonstrated ability to meet published recommendations for improving health outcomes of children with obesity.

Detailed description

Evidence-based treatment for childhood obesity exists, yet a fundamental knowledge-to-action gap has significantly limited the uptake of recommendations into clinical practice, particularly in low-income settings. Persistence of this gap represents a large-scale public health threat, as the earliest generation of children living through the obesity epidemic now enters adulthood, they are the first in US history to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents, mainly due to rising rates of obesity-related cancers and cardiovascular disease. A central challenge in delivering recommended treatment is the intensity; ≥26 hours of face-to-face contact are necessary to achieve health benefits and risk reduction. The objective of the proposed project is to develop and test an implementation strategy that pairs primary care pediatric clinics with the municipal Parks and Recreation (P\&R) centers to deliver the current treatment recommendations with high fidelity, while allowing while allowing crucial adaptations for the local and cultural context. Using the Fit Together model, the clinical partner provides standard medical treatment for pediatric obesity, while the community partner (typically parks and recreation) provides space facilitating the activity/nutrition sessions specifically for children referred from the clinic, along with their families. Fit Together will be implemented in two new communities in North Carolina, and investigators will study implementation outcomes as well as 12-month patient outcomes. A local cohort has been added in Durham, North Carolina, where their local Fit Together model has re-started their community activity program, and investigators will look at 6-month patient outcomes.

Conditions

• Pediatric Obesity
• Implementation

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Fit Together	Fit Together intervention follows a clinic and community partnership model for childhood obesity treatment. Children with obesity will receive standard of care obesity treatment from their usual provider and will also receive a referral to an activity program run out of the local community center. Each session delivers a combination of high-intensity individual exercises, sports and games, and unstructured playtime to help children reach the US Physical Activity guidelines of 60min moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily. There will also be a nutrition activity session offered regularly.
BEHAVIORAL	Educational materials	Participants will receive a child-friendly cooking magazine mailed quarterly and a local Parks and Recreation program guide.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-12-15
• Primary completion: 2026-05-31
• Completion: 2026-05-31
• First posted: 2022-07-13
• Last updated: 2026-04-14

Locations

3 sites across 1 country: United States