Effect of Hip Hop Nutrition-Math Curriculum

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Health Behavior
• Interventions: Behavioral: Hip Hop Nutrition-Math Curriculum; Behavioral: Food Explorers Program

• Registration Number: NCT03952754
• Lead Sponsor: Columbia University

Brief Summary

This study is testing the efficacy of the integrative approach to:

1. teach 5th grade children menu board calorie literacy as measured by our novel recently validated menu board calorie literacy (MBCL) instrument;

2. provide strategies designed to improve food purchasing behaviors; and

3. facilitate the transmission of core lesson messages from children to parents via a procedure that we have termed "Child Mediated Health Communication (CMHC)".

Detailed Description

Data show that nearly 25% of children aged four to eight years consumed fast food on a typical day. These trends in fast food consumption are more acute among low-income urban dwellers where higher rates of overweight and childhood obesity are seen. This has led to a focus on providing fast food consumers with point-of-purchase nutrition information, such as the calorie posting mandates, in the hopes that these decision cues will help consumers make better informed dietary decisions. Most children chose their own meals at the point-of-purchase. It is clear that additional strategies are needed to encourage the point-of-purchase use of calorie postings, however available studies provide little insight into best practices or the types of approaches needed.

It is with this in mind that the investigator developed a school-based approach to improve point-of purchase use of calorie postings, by creating a novel intervention that targets menu board calorie literacy as a means of improving food-purchasing behaviors.

Hip Hop Nutrition-Math Curriculum is a novel behaviorally focused multimedia, musical school health rap toolkit that targets what we refer to as menu board calorie literacy. 4th grade common core math standards are integrated into the program in a manner that incorporates evidence-based nutrition education recommendations by the Institute of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The investigator proposes to test the efficacy of the integrative approach on food purchasing behaviors of children in an adequately powered, controlled trial. The investigator will test the intervention in the after-school setting among economically disadvantaged children and incorporate parental engagement in our outcome evaluations. There is a partnership with New York City's largest after-school program vendor, New York Edge (formerly called Sports and Arts in Schools foundation/SASF), for the implementation of this study.

The goal of a health literacy intervention is to improve health decision-making and/or behavior. For this reason, the investigator will measure both menu board calorie literacy and food choice behavior at a point-of-purchase.

Basic Information
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Recruitment & Eligibility
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Study & Design
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Trial Locations

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2019-01-07
• Study First Submitted: 2019-05-11
• Study First Submitted QC: 2019-05-14
• Study First Posted: 2019-05-16
• Status Verified: 2024-05
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-05-31
• Last Update Posted: 2024-06-04
• Primary Completion: 2025-03
• Study Completion: 2025-06

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 560

Inclusion Criteria

• 5th grade student participating in the New York Edge after school program

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Exclusion Criteria

• Absence of Internet access at home
• No working phone line
• Major psychiatric disability or medical condition that may affect participation (e.g., psychotic illness, terminal illness)
• Non-English speaking students

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Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Group 2: Hip Hop Nutrition-Math Curriculum	Hip Hop Nutrition-Math Curriculum	The intervention group will receive an tailored program for ten weeks, meeting twice a week.
Group 1: Food Explorers Program	Food Explorers Program	The control group will receive the usual care for nutrition program provided by the schools, called Food Explorers. The group will also be conducted ten weeks, meeting twice a week.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Number of students with positive behavior change at Food Sales	Within Year5 of the study	Students will be tracked on the food purchases they make at "Food Sales" conducted through study.; Each child will be given an identifiable food voucher for use at the Food Sale. However, point-of-purchase behaviors will be assessed with the children unaware that their food choices being tracked. The food categories range from low calorie/nutrient to high.; A change from a purchase of a high-calorie/nutrient item to a low-calorie/nutrient item will indicate a positive behavior change.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Parental Nutritional Knowledge Score	Baseline, Post-Intervention (approximately 10 Weeks), 3-Month Follow Up	Nutrition knowledge score will be assessed using a 7-item questionnaire at Baseline, Immediately post intervention, and at 3-months post intervention. Changes in the composite score will be analyzed across each of the test sequences range of 0 - 7, with higher scores representing greater nutrition knowledge.
Menu Board Calorie Literacy Score	Baseline, Post-Intervention (approximately 10 Weeks), 3-Month Follow Up	Content knowledge of students will be assessed by the total number of correct responses on the survey measures.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Columbia University Irving Medical Center; 🇺🇸 New York, New York, United States