Growing Healthy Hearts: An Online Gardening Program for Adults With Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease

NCT05720611 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: STUDY00017020
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 40
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study aims to assess the effectiveness on an online gardening study for beginner gardeners with the goal of improving diet and physical activity in those with at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

Conditions

Cardiovascular Diseases

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Acceptability

  Participant acceptability of the program based on 80% of intervention participants providing an average rating of the intervention as 4 or higher on the Weiner Acceptability Scale

  24 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (9)

• Demand

  Baseline and 24 weeks

• Practicality

  24 weeks

• Fruit and vegetable intake

  From baseline to 24 weeks

• Physical activity

  From baseline to 24 weeks

• Cooking confidence

  From baseline to 24 weeks

Study Arms (2)

Intervention group

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

The intervention group will consist of a digitally delivered course designed to teach gardening, cooking and nutrition education to adults with risk factors for CVD. Participants will be invited to participate in 10 Zoom-based gardening and cooking education sessions. Zoom meetings will be facilitated by members of the study team, will present information to participants and will allow participants to ask questions and share their experiences with others. The materials will walk the participant through various aspects of starting and tending a garden. Participants will be asked to engage in a closed Facebook group.

Behavioral: Digitally delivered gardening and healthy eating course

Control Group

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

Participants in this group will complete all questionnaires but will not receive the digitally delivered course or access to Facebook.

Behavioral: Digitally delivered gardening and healthy eating course

Interventions

Digitally delivered gardening and healthy eating course BEHAVIORAL

The intervention group will consist of a digitally delivered course designed to teach gardening, cooking and nutrition education to adults with risk factors for CVD. Participants will be invited to participate in 10 Zoom-based gardening and cooking education sessions. Zoom meetings will be facilitated by members of the study team, will present information to participants and will allow participants to ask questions and share their experiences with others. The materials will walk the participant through various aspects of starting and tending a garden.

Control Group; Intervention group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 20 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Are at least 20 years old
• Have any one or more health condition(s) or risk factor(s) for CVD. These include, but are not limited to:
• Any history of cardiovascular disease
• Any family history of cardiovascular disease (as measured by asking if both living and deceased, close biological relatives, that is, blood relatives including father, mother, sisters or brothers, ever told by a health professional that they had a heart attack or angina before the age of 50)
• Any history of stroke or DVT
• High cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• Overweight/obesity (BMI \>=25)
• Diabetes, prediabetes, or borderline diabetes
• Current or past Tobacco use
• Reports consuming fruit and vegetables less than 5 times per day
• Report less than 150 minutes of physical activity per week
• Have access to stable and consistent internet access
• Have a Facebook account or willing to open a Facebook account
• Have a smart phone or computer and capacity to download the Fitbit app or Fitbit Connect Software

You may not qualify if:

• Unwilling to participate in Zoom sessions and have their voice and face recorded for research purposes.
• Currently tends a vegetable garden (as measured by if they have tended a garden in the past year or are planning to tend a garden (outside of this study) in the coming season)
• Moving out of the area in the next 5 months
• Non-English speaking or reading
• Pregnant women
• Participation in a past FCM gardening intervention study
• Medical conditions or medications that limit ability to freely increase dietary intake of fruits and vegetables (e.g., kidney failure, dialysis)
• A medical condition that precludes safe pursuit of gardening, i.e., recent heart conditions (e.g., heart failure, stroke, heart attack), recent or pending surgery, severe orthopedic conditions, pending hip/knee replacement, paralysis, dementia, unstable angina or uncontrolled arrhythmias, or uncontrolled asthma or allergies.
• Close contacts of current participants in the study

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Milton S. Hershey Medical Center: lead

Study Sites (1)

Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

Hershey, Pennsylvania, 17033, United States

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Veldheer S, Rutt K, Schaefer E, Kim I, Hrabovsky S, Smith B, Thomas OW, Moore AM, Pagoto S, Conroy DE, Schmitz KH, Sciamanna C. Growing Healthy Hearts: a pilot randomized controlled trial of a digitally delivered gardening, cooking, and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet intervention for adults with cardiovascular risk factors. Pilot Feasibility Stud. 2026 Jan 28. doi: 10.1186/s40814-026-01766-1. Online ahead of print.

  PMID: 41606653 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Cardiovascular Diseases

Study Design

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

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 13, 2023
• First Posted: February 9, 2023
• Study Start: January 27, 2023
• Primary Completion: September 25, 2023
• Study Completion: August 1, 2024
• Last Updated: November 18, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-11

Locations

US (1)