Promoting Self-Regulation Skills and Healthy Eating Habits in Early Head Start

NCT03958214 | Completed DMC

• 3 other identifiers: 2016-0465A271000SOHE/SOHE/SOHE*ADMIN
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 244
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to test the effectiveness of a new curriculum on toddlers' self-regulation skills and healthy eating habits. The curriculum is being delivered as part of Early Head Start home visits and compared to the effectiveness of usual practice Early Head Start home visits.

Conditions

Poverty

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (8)

• Change in children's healthy eating habits: Body mass index

  Healthy eating habits will be assessed through change in body mass index

  Baseline / up to 18 months

• Change in children's healthy eating habits: Food diaries

  Healthy eating habits will be assessed through change in consumption of fruits/vegetables and junk food, as assessed with 24-hour food diaries

  Baseline / up to 18 months

• Change in children's healthy eating habits: Parent reports

  Healthy eating habits will be assessed through parent survey of pickiness, etc.; mean scores reported from 5-point Likert scales with higher scores indicating healthier eating habits

  Baseline / up to 18 months

• Change in children's self-control skills: Direct testing

  Children's self-control skills will be assessed through direct testing (e.g., snack delay task)

  Baseline / up to 18 months

• Change in children's self-control skills: Video interactions

  Children's self-control skills will be assessed through parent-child interactions, rated on Likert scale from video recordings; mean score reported between 1 = almost never and 5 = almost always

  Baseline / up to 18 months

• Change in children's self-control skills: Parent ratings

  Children's self-control skills will be assessed through parent ratings on standardized behavior checklists; mean scores reported from 3- or 5-point Likert scales with higher scores indicating greater self-control

  Baseline / up to 18 months

• Change in parents' sensitive/responsiveness: Video interactions

  Parents' sensitive/responsiveness will be assessed through parent-child interactions, rated on Likert scale from video recordings; mean score reported between 1 = almost never and 5 = almost always

  Baseline / up to 18 months

• Change in parents' sensitive/responsiveness: Parent ratings

  Parents' sensitive/responsiveness will be assessed through parent ratings on standardized surveys; mean scores reported from 5-point Likert scales with higher scores indicating greater sensitive/responsiveness

  Baseline / up to 18 months

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Change in children's sleep habits: Parent reports

  Baseline / up to 18 months

Study Arms (2)

Recipe 4 Success

EXPERIMENTAL

For 12 weeks, home visitors will stop delivering the usual practice Early Head Start home visits and deliver the Recipe 4 Success curriculum instead. At the end of 12 weeks, home visitors will resume usual practice Early Head Start home visits.

Behavioral: Recipe 4 Success

Usual practice Early Head Start

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Home visitors will continue to deliver usual practice Early Head Start home visits that follow a standard curriculum and are tailored on an ongoing basis to meet individual family needs.

Behavioral: Usual practice Early Head Start

Interventions

Recipe 4 Success BEHAVIORAL

Home visitors teach parents about children's self-regulation skills and healthy eating habits. The home visitors then teach parents how to sensitively scaffold the development of their toddlers' self-regulation skills in the context of cooking and snack preparation lessons. Prior research shows that self-regulation skills in early childhood predict long-term health indicators, such as BMI. Prior research also shows that children who are involved in the preparation of healthier foods are more likely to eat them.

Recipe 4 Success

Usual practice Early Head Start BEHAVIORAL

Home visitors will continue to deliver usual practice Early Head Start home visits that follow a standard curriculum and are tailored on an ongoing basis to meet individual family needs.

Usual practice Early Head Start

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 2 Years - 3 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• Children must be receiving Early Head Start home visits and be at least 2 years old at the beginning of the study.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Wisconsin, Madison: lead
• Penn State University: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, United States

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Engbretson AM, Nix RL, Park YR, Gill S, Hostetler ML. Elaboration of parents' schemas of their children: Unique relations to sensitivity and learning support among families living in poverty. J Fam Psychol. 2023 Apr;37(3):318-323. doi: 10.1037/fam0001048. Epub 2023 Jan 2.

  PMID: 36595449 DERIVED

Study Officials

• Robert Nix, PhD

  University of Wisconsin, Madison

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: All interviews are conducted by research assistants who are blind to study condition.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Families are blocked within home visitor caseload and randomly assigned to receive the new curriculum or usual practice Early Head Start home visits for 12 weeks.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 11, 2017
• First Posted: May 21, 2019
• Study Start: November 8, 2016
• Primary Completion: January 20, 2020
• Study Completion: January 20, 2020
• Last Updated: February 27, 2020

Record last verified: 2020-02

Locations

US (1)