Promoting Healthy Eating and Active Playtime by Connecting Preschool Children to Nature

NCT02715544 | Unknown DMC

• 1 other identifier: P&G 2015
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 240
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Recent research suggests a majority of Hong Kong's toddlers (aged 2 to 4) are much less active than is recommended and are increasingly engaged in sedentary behaviour, which places them at risk of becoming overweight or obese. The proposed project will test whether connecting families to nature positively influences physical activity (that is, active playtime) and healthy eating routines in children aged 2 to 4. The investigators have recently conducted a pilot study Play \& Grow (P\&G), a programme based on the most successful international preschool interventions described in the literature. In addition to adopting healthy eating and physical activity intervention elements, the programme was enhanced by including a novel third element: connectedness to nature (CN). To test the effectiveness of this enhanced intervention, the plan is to run a family-based randomised controlled trial (RCT). The intervention will include 240 families with children aged 2 to 4, will take the form of one-hour activity sessions for parents and children held once a week for 10 weeks. The investigators will assess lifestyle-related habits before, immediately after the completion the intervention, at 6 months and one year after the intervention. Created for this purpose, a novel measuring tool for connectedness to nature, Nature Relatedness Scale (NRS), will be validated and tested for reliability prior to the RTC. The results of RCT are intended to be used to understand which components of the intervention were most effective. The objectives of this project will be achieved over a 36-month period, and it is expected to contribute to a close examination of key components of successful healthy lifestyle promotion programme during early childhood. The investigators predict that is that the new element CN will significantly improve the intervention. Finally, the overall aim is that connecting families to nature will result in sustainable lifestyle changes that remain with them for a lifetime.

Conditions

Sedentary Lifestyle; Overweight; Eating Disorders

Keywords

Intervention; Physical activity; Eating habit; Connectedness to nature

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Eating habits

  A short validated Eating and Physical Activity Questionnaire (EPAQ)

  3 years

• Physical activity

  Physical Activity Questionnaire for Preschool-aged Children (Pre-PAQ®)

  3 years

• Nature relatedness

  a short, age-adjusted NRS scale

  3 years

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Parental knowledge of nutrition

  3 years

• Parental feeding behaviours

  3 years

• weight

  3 years

• height

  3 years

• child neophobia

  3 years

Study Arms (2)

Intervention group

EXPERIMENTAL

The group will receive healthy lifestyle intervention

Other: Healthy lifestyle

control group

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Other: physical activity and dietary guidelines

Other: physical activity and dietary guidelines

Interventions

Healthy lifestyle OTHER

The families will receive a designed for these purposes intervention

Intervention group

physical activity and dietary guidelines OTHER

The families will receive a designed for these purposes intervention

control group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 2 Years - 6 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• year old children
• With English-speaking parents

You may not qualify if:

• Children with chronic health conditions
• Families who have recently taken part in a healthy lifestyle promotion programme

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The University of Hong Kong: lead

Study Sites (1)

The University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong, 000, Hong Kong

RECRUITING

Related Publications (13)

• Nisbet EK, Zelenski JM. The NR-6: a new brief measure of nature relatedness. Front Psychol. 2013 Nov 1;4:813. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00813. eCollection 2013.

  PMID: 24198806 BACKGROUND

• Cleland V, Crawford D, Baur LA, Hume C, Timperio A, Salmon J. A prospective examination of children's time spent outdoors, objectively measured physical activity and overweight. Int J Obes (Lond). 2008 Nov;32(11):1685-93. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2008.171. Epub 2008 Oct 14.

  PMID: 18852701 BACKGROUND

• Dyment JE, Bell AC. Grounds for movement: green school grounds as sites for promoting physical activity. Health Educ Res. 2008 Dec;23(6):952-62. doi: 10.1093/her/cym059. Epub 2007 Oct 22.

  PMID: 17956885 BACKGROUND

• Bell JF, Wilson JS, Liu GC. Neighborhood greenness and 2-year changes in body mass index of children and youth. Am J Prev Med. 2008 Dec;35(6):547-53. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2008.07.006.

  PMID: 19000844 BACKGROUND

• Veselinovska SS, Osogovska TL: Engagement of Students in Environmental Activities in School. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 2012, 46:5015-5020.

  BACKGROUND

• Barratt Hacking E, Barratt R, Scott W: Engaging children: research issues around participation and environmental learning. Environmental Education Research 2007, 13:529-544.

  BACKGROUND

• Mullis F: Active parenting: an evaluation of two Adlerian parent education programs. Journal of Individual Psychology 1999, 55:225-232.

  BACKGROUND

• Liefländer AK, Fröhlich G, Bogner FX, Schultz PW: Promoting connectedness with nature through environmental education. Environmental Education Research 2013, 19(3):370-384

  BACKGROUND

• Cutter-Mackenzie A, Edwards S: Toward a Model for Early Childhood Environmental Education: Foregrounding, Developing, and Connecting Knowledge Through Play-Based Learning. The Journal of Environmental Education 2013, 44(3):195-213.

  BACKGROUND

• The Biophilia Hypothesis [http://books.google.com/books?hl=nl&lr=&id=qOg3-J0BoGoC&pgis=1]

  BACKGROUND

• Sobko T, Brown GTL, Cheng WHG. Does connectedness to nature improve the eating behaviours of pre-schoolers? Emerging evidence from the Play&Grow randomised controlled trial in Hong Kong. Appetite. 2020 Nov 1;154:104781. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2020.104781. Epub 2020 Jun 30.

  PMID: 32615145 DERIVED

• Sobko T, Jia Z, Brown G. Measuring connectedness to nature in preschool children in an urban setting and its relation to psychological functioning. PLoS One. 2018 Nov 29;13(11):e0207057. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0207057. eCollection 2018.

  PMID: 30496300 DERIVED

• Sobko T, Tse M, Kaplan M. A randomized controlled trial for families with preschool children - promoting healthy eating and active playtime by connecting to nature. BMC Public Health. 2016 Jun 13;16:505. doi: 10.1186/s12889-016-3111-0.

  PMID: 27296723 DERIVED

Related Links

• Programme promotion video

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Sedentary Behavior; Overweight; Feeding and Eating Disorders; Motor Activity; Feeding Behavior

Interventions

Exercise; Nutrition Policy

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior; Overnutrition; Nutrition Disorders; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases; Body Weight; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Signs and Symptoms, Digestive; Mental Disorders; Behavior, Animal

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Motor Activity; Movement; Musculoskeletal Physiological Phenomena; Musculoskeletal and Neural Physiological Phenomena; Health Policy; Public Policy; Social Control Policies; Policy; Health Care Economics and Organizations

Study Officials

• Tanja sobko

  The University of Hong Kong

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Tanja Sobko, PhD

CONTACT

+85251816160; tanja.sobko@gmail.com

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 8, 2016
• First Posted: March 22, 2016
• Study Start: January 1, 2015
• Primary Completion: December 1, 2019
• Study Completion: December 1, 2020
• Last Updated: August 27, 2018

Record last verified: 2018-08

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

HK (1)