B'More Healthy; Communities for Kids (BHCK)

NCT02181010 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: 111189
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 890
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The BHCK study will develop, implement, and evaluate a community-based obesity prevention program, which operates at multiple levels of an urban food system (policy, wholesaler, corner stores, carryout, household, individual; in Baltimore, MD), and will improve the healthy food supply chain to increase affordability, availability, purchasing and consumption of healthy foods within low-income, minority neighborhoods.

Conditions

Obesity

Keywords

African American; Adolescents; Urban; Food Desert; Food Insecurity; Obesity; Baltimore City; Peer mentors; Multi level; Policy; Caregivers; Systems; Agent Based Model; Systems Dynamic Model; Corner Store; Carryout; Recreation Center; Text Messaging; Social Media; Mapping

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Small Retail Food Store - Healthy Food Availability

  A food environment checklist (a modified from the NEMS questionnaire) will be conducted before and after the intervention to assess healthy food availability in both intervention and comparison neighborhoods/ stores.

  Up to 4 years

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Household Healthy Food Purchasing

  Up to 4 years

Other Outcomes (1)

• Dietary intake of urban, African American youth participants (specifically total calories and fat consumption.)

  Up to 4 years

Study Arms (2)

Intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

The intervention is a multi-level, multi-component intervention designed to increase access to and consumption of healthier foods in low-income, urban, minority neighborhoods. Intervention components will occur at the policy level; food wholesaler level; small food retail outlet level; neighborhood level; household level.

Behavioral: Intervention

Control

NO INTERVENTION

Similar to many community- based public health research programs, the control arm will not receive any intervention components during the initial intervention period. However, after all assessments are completed they will receive a 'delayed intervention' protocol, where the community receives the intervention elements as described in the intervention arm after assessment measures have been completed.

Interventions

Intervention BEHAVIORAL

Intervention components will occur at the policy level (working within Baltimore City policy makers to sustain intervention components, and develop virtual simulations of the Baltimore food environment); food wholesaler level (working with wholesalers to stock healthier food items and provide pricing incentives to storeowners on healthier foods); small food retail outlet level (working with corner store and carry-out owners to stock, promote, and sell healthier foods and beverages); neighborhood level (working with Baltimore college students to deliver nutrition intervention sessions to younger youth in recreation centers in intervention neighborhoods); household level (providing a text messaging and social media program that provides parents and caregivers tips for healthier eating in their respective neighborhoods).

Intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 9 Years - 100 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• years of age Living within one of the intervention neighborhoods Family does not anticipate moving outside of the study area during the duration of intervention
• Parent/ legal guardian of a child ages 9-14 years of age Living within one of the intervention neighborhoods Family does not anticipate moving outside of the study area during the duration of intervention

You may not qualify if:

• Families that do not have a child within the age range Families that do not live within the neighborhoods in the study area Families who will move outside the study area within the intervention timeframe

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: lead

Study Sites (1)

Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, Maryland, 21205, United States

Location

Related Publications (15)

• Coakley HL, Steeves EA, Jones-Smith JC, Hopkins L, Braunstein N, Mui Y, Gittelsohn J. Combining Ground-Truthing and Technology to Improve Accuracy in Establishing Children's Food Purchasing Behaviors. J Hunger Environ Nutr. 2014;9(3):418-430. doi: 10.1080/19320248.2014.898173.

  PMID: 25729465 BACKGROUND

• Gittelsohn J, Anderson Steeves E, Mui Y, Kharmats AY, Hopkins LC, Dennis D. B'More Healthy Communities for Kids: design of a multi-level intervention for obesity prevention for low-income African American children. BMC Public Health. 2014 Sep 11;14:942. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-942.

  PMID: 25209072 BACKGROUND

• Anderson Steeves E, Martins PA, Gittelsohn J. Changing the Food Environment for Obesity Prevention: Key Gaps and Future Directions. Curr Obes Rep. 2014 Dec;3(4):451-8. doi: 10.1007/s13679-014-0120-0.

  PMID: 25574452 BACKGROUND

• Gudzune KA, Welsh C, Lane E, Chissell Z, Anderson Steeves E, Gittelsohn J. Increasing access to fresh produce by pairing urban farms with corner stores: a case study in a low-income urban setting. Public Health Nutr. 2015 Oct;18(15):2770-4. doi: 10.1017/S1368980015000051. Epub 2015 Feb 4.

  PMID: 25649045 BACKGROUND

• Gittelsohn J, Mui Y, Adam A, Lin S, Kharmats A, Igusa T, Lee BY. Incorporating Systems Science Principles into the Development of Obesity Prevention Interventions: Principles, Benefits, and Challenges. Curr Obes Rep. 2015 Jun;4(2):174-81. doi: 10.1007/s13679-015-0147-x.

  PMID: 26069864 BACKGROUND

• Sattler M, Hopkins L, Anderson Steeves E, Cristello A, Mccloskey M, Gittelsohn J, Hurley K. Characteristics of Youth Food Preparation in Low-Income, African American Homes: Associations with Healthy Eating Index Scores. Ecol Food Nutr. 2015;54(4):380-96. doi: 10.1080/03670244.2014.1001982. Epub 2015 Feb 23.

  PMID: 25706350 BACKGROUND

• Vedovato GM, Surkan PJ, Jones-Smith J, Steeves EA, Han E, Trude AC, Kharmats AY, Gittelsohn J. Food insecurity, overweight and obesity among low-income African-American families in Baltimore City: associations with food-related perceptions. Public Health Nutr. 2016 Jun;19(8):1405-16. doi: 10.1017/S1368980015002888. Epub 2015 Oct 6.

  PMID: 26441159 BACKGROUND

• Anderson Steeves E, Jones-Smith J, Hopkins L, Gittelsohn J. Perceived Social Support From Friends and Parents for Eating Behavior and Diet Quality Among Low-Income, Urban, Minority Youth. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2016 May;48(5):304-310.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2015.12.014. Epub 2016 Feb 8.

  PMID: 26865358 BACKGROUND

• Gittelsohn J, Trude A. Environmental Interventions for Obesity and Chronic Disease Prevention. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo). 2015;61 Suppl(Suppl):S15-6. doi: 10.3177/jnsv.61.S15.

  PMID: 26598834 BACKGROUND

• Mui Y, Lee BY, Adam A, Kharmats AY, Budd N, Nau C, Gittelsohn J. Healthy versus Unhealthy Suppliers in Food Desert Neighborhoods: A Network Analysis of Corner Stores' Food Supplier Networks. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2015 Nov 30;12(12):15058-74. doi: 10.3390/ijerph121214965.

  PMID: 26633434 BACKGROUND

• Wong MS, Nau C, Kharmats AY, Vedovato GM, Cheskin LJ, Gittelsohn J, Lee BY. Using a computational model to quantify the potential impact of changing the placement of healthy beverages in stores as an intervention to "Nudge" adolescent behavior choice. BMC Public Health. 2015 Dec 23;15:1284. doi: 10.1186/s12889-015-2626-0.

  PMID: 26700158 BACKGROUND

• Sato PM, Steeves EA, Carnell S, Cheskin LJ, Trude AC, Shipley C, Mejia Ruiz MJ, Gittelsohn J. A youth mentor-led nutritional intervention in urban recreation centers: a promising strategy for childhood obesity prevention in low-income neighborhoods. Health Educ Res. 2016 Apr;31(2):195-206. doi: 10.1093/her/cyw011. Epub 2016 Mar 2.

  PMID: 26936480 BACKGROUND

• Ewart-Pierce E, Mejia Ruiz MJ, Gittelsohn J. "Whole-of-Community" Obesity Prevention: A Review of Challenges and Opportunities in Multilevel, Multicomponent Interventions. Curr Obes Rep. 2016 Sep;5(3):361-74. doi: 10.1007/s13679-016-0226-7.

  PMID: 27379620 BACKGROUND

• Trude ACB, Surkan PJ, Cheskin LJ, Gittelsohn J. A multilevel, multicomponent childhood obesity prevention group-randomized controlled trial improves healthier food purchasing and reduces sweet-snack consumption among low-income African-American youth. Nutr J. 2018 Oct 29;17(1):96. doi: 10.1186/s12937-018-0406-2.

  PMID: 30373597 DERIVED

• Trude ACB, Kharmats AY, Jones-Smith JC, Gittelsohn J. Exposure to a multi-level multi-component childhood obesity prevention community-randomized controlled trial: patterns, determinants, and implications. Trials. 2018 May 22;19(1):287. doi: 10.1186/s13063-018-2663-y.

  PMID: 29788977 DERIVED

Related Links

• Healthy Stores Website

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Obesity

Interventions

Methods

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Overweight; Overnutrition; Nutrition Disorders; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases; Body Weight; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Investigative Techniques

Study Officials

• Joel Gittelsohn, PhD

  Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: FACTORIAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 20, 2014
• First Posted: July 3, 2014
• Study Start: January 1, 2012
• Primary Completion: December 1, 2017
• Study Completion: January 1, 2018
• Last Updated: October 7, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-10

Locations

US (1)