Food, Fun, & Fitness Internet Program for Girls: Outcome Evaluation

Not Applicable

Completed

Brief Summary: The purpose of this project is to reduce health disparities in obesity risk among 8-10 year old African American girls using a culturally sensitive and developmentally appropriate internet-based program with no face-to-face interaction. This study will conduct an outcome evaluation to test short and longer term effects on obesity risk.

Detailed Description: This research will conduct an outcome evaluation on a promising web based obesity prevention program for 8-10 year old African American girls. A pilot study with 80 girls established its feasibility: recruitment goals were met; attrition rates were \< 10%; logon rates to the online program were 74.5%; and statistically significant increases in fruit and vegetable consumption and time spent being physically active were observed. The outcome evaluation will recruit 400 child-parent pairs to examine short and longer term effects of the program on obesity risk. It will also conduct mediation analyses to examine pathways of effect. At the end of the study, the web based program will be hosted on the CNRC web site. Although the use of the internet as a method for changing health behavior is not new, the use of an internet program alone, with no face to face interaction, is novel. This is one of the first programs to attempt this, particularly in an at-risk population.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Exclusion Criteria

mental, physical, or medical conditions that limit fruit-vegetable consumption, physical activity, or ability to fully participate in the program and/or complete baseline and post assessment data collection
taking medications that influence dietary behaviors, appetite, and/or physical activity

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
story only	Food, Fun, & Fitness Internet Program for Girls	The girls randomized to this arm of the study will view an interactive story about 6 8-10 year old African American girls who seek to find clues to solve a mystery about the town in which they live. The episodes will contain information about healthy nutrition and physical activity, as well as basic information about physical activity and kitchen safety tips, developmentally appropriate recipes, and portion sizes. Girls randomized to this arm of the study will not engage in key behavior change procedures, such as goal setting, problem solving, and self monitoring.
story plus behaviorial procedures	Food, Fun, & Fitness Internet Program for Girls	The girls randomized to this arm of the study will view an interactive story about 6 8-10 year old African American girls who seek to find clues to solve a mystery about the town in which they live. The episodes will contain information about healthy nutrition and physical activity, as well as basic information about physical activity and kitchen safety tips, developmentally appropriate recipes, and portion sizes. Girls randomized to this arm of the study will also engage in key behavior change procedures, such as goal setting, problem solving, and self monitoring.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Body mass index percentile	6 months	height and weight will be used to calculate BMI percentile

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
fruit and vegetable consumption	6 months	dietitian-assisted dietary recalls will be collected using the NDSR system; 2 recalls will be collected at each time point (1 week day and 1 weekend day)
physical activity	6 months	Accelerometers will be used to assess physical activity
self efficacy	6 months	standard measures will be used to assess fruit, vegetable, water, and physical activity self efficacy
home availability	6 months	standard measures will be used to assess fruit, vegetable, and physical activity equipment home availability
asking behaviors	6 months	standard measures will be used to assess child fruit, vegetable, water, and physical activity asking behaviors