A Randomized Controlled Trial of Students for Nutrition and eXercise

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Obesity
• Interventions: Behavioral: Students for Nutrition and eXercise

• Registration Number: NCT01914471
• Lead Sponsor: Boston Children's Hospital

Brief Summary

Objectives: We conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of Students for Nutrition and eXercise (SNaX), a middle-school-based obesity-prevention intervention combining school-wide environmental changes, multimedia, encouragement to eat healthy school cafeteria foods, and peer-led education and marketing.

Methods: We randomly selected schools from the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and assigned five to the intervention group and five to a wait-list control group. School records were obtained for number of fruits and vegetables served, students served lunch, and snacks sold per attending student. Pre- and post-intervention surveys assessed psychosocial variables among 2,997 seventh-graders (75% of all seventh-graders across schools).

Hypotheses: For the RCT of SNaX, we hypothesized that SNaX would lead to increases in the proportion of students served in the cafeteria (because SNaX markets cafeterias' healthy foods); increased fruit and vegetable servings (because SNaX increases access to sliced/bite-sized fruits and vegetables); decreased school store snack sales; and greater water consumption. We also hypothesized that SNaX would lead to more positive attitudes about the cafeteria and water, improve obesity-prevention knowledge, and increase intentions to drink water.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2008-09
• Primary Completion: 2012-06
• Study Completion: 2013-03
• Status Verified: 2013-07
• Study First Submitted: 2013-07-29
• Study First Submitted QC: 2013-08-01
• Last Update Submitted: 2013-08-01
• Study First Posted: 2013-08-02
• Last Update Posted: 2013-08-02

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 2997

Inclusion Criteria

• schools with >50% NSLP-eligible students (a proxy for low-income) and <900 - seventh-graders

Exclusion Criteria

• schools with <50% NSLP-eligible students and >900 seventh-graders

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Students for Nutrition and eXercise	Students for Nutrition and eXercise	These schools received the entirety of Students for Nutrition and eXercise, a middle-school-based obesity-prevention intervention combining school-wide environmental changes, multimedia, encouragement to eat healthy school cafeteria foods, and peer-led education and marketing

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Number of students obtaining lunch per day by National School Lunch Program (NSLP) eligibility	5 months	We obtained the number of students obtaining lunch per day (by National School Lunch Program (NSLP) eligibility) from schools.
Number of fruits and vegetables served per day	5 months	We obtained the number of fruits and vegetables served per day from the school cafeterias.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Attitudes about the cafeteria	5 months	Attitudes about the cafeteria were calculated by survey data using the mean of two 7-point scales representing attitudes about the cafeteria: unsatisfying/satisfying and bad for my health/good for my health.
Attitudes about water	5 months	Attitudes about water were measured with a survey including an 11-point scale (very negatively/very positively).
Knowledge about healthy eating and physical activity	5 months	Knowledge about healthy eating and physical activity was measured with a survey containing 6 true/false items.
Intentions to drink water	5 months	Intentions to drink water were assessed with two survey items, "How likely is it that you will drink water \[or drink water from a refillable water bottle\] the next day you are in school?" with 5-point scales (extremely likely/extremely unlikely).
Water consumption frequency	5 months	Water consumption frequency was assessed by survey with, "How often do you usually drink tap water?" and "How often do you usually use a refillable water bottle to drink water?" (every day, a few times a week, once a week, twice a month, once a month, less than once a month, never).
Number of snacks sold per day	5 months	We obtained the data on the number of snacks sold per day from the school store.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

RAND Corporation; 🇺🇸 Santa Monica, California, United States