The GREEN Project Lunch Box Study

NCT ID: NCT01573845

Last Updated: 2015-03-25

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 979 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2011-09-30
• Study Completion Date: 2013-07-31

Brief Summary

The central hypothesis of The GREEN Project Lunch Box Study is that a school-based communication campaign that combines healthy eating and eco-friendly messages will improve the quality of foods that children bring from home to school more than a healthy eating campaign alone and compared to a control/delayed intervention condition at the end of one school year.

Detailed Description

The proposed intervention seeks to improve the quality of foods brought to school from home by taking advantage of a natural synergy between healthy eating and eco-friendly behaviors to increase motivation to adopt healthy eating behaviors. The project involves the design, implementation and evaluation of a novel, school based communications campaign to simultaneously improve the nutrition quality and eco-friendliness of foods that elementary school children bring from home to school.

The intervention is a theory-based multi-channel communications campaign based on qualitative research with the target population: children in grades three and four in public schools in Eastern Massachusetts and their caregivers. Schools were randomized to one of three conditions: (1) a campaign that includes healthy eating and eco-friendly messages; (2) a campaign that includes healthy eating messages only; and (3) a delayed healthy eating eco-friendly campaign after serving as a control group. Foods brought from home and the packaging associated with those foods will be assessed at baseline and at the end of the school year using a photographic technique.

The primary outcome of interest is change in the number of servings of fruits and vegetables. Secondary outcomes will include changes in the quantity of sugar-sweetened beverages; changes in processed, energy-dense foods; and changes in sugar sweetened beverages brought from home. We will also be able to assess changes in trash associated with foods brought from home.

Conditions

Health Communication

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Healthy Eating + Eco-Friendly Campaign

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Healthy Eating + Eco-Friendly Campaign

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Participants receive a 6-month school-based campaign that includes:

• A 22-lesson classroom curriculum
• Homework activities that involve the family
• Monthly parent newsletters
• A food shopping and packing guide for parents
• Food demonstrations
• A poster contest
• School wide announcements

Healthy Eating Campaign

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Healthy Eating Campaign

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Participants receive a 6-month school-based campaign that includes:

• A 22-lesson classroom curriculum
• Homework activities that involve the family
• Monthly parent newsletters
• A food shopping and packing guide for parents
• Food demonstrations
• A poster contest
• School wide announcements

Control/Delayed Intervention

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Healthy Eating + Eco-Friendly Campaign

Participants receive a 6-month school-based campaign that includes:

• A 22-lesson classroom curriculum
• Homework activities that involve the family
• Monthly parent newsletters
• A food shopping and packing guide for parents
• Food demonstrations
• A poster contest
• School wide announcements

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Healthy Eating Campaign

Participants receive a 6-month school-based campaign that includes:

• A 22-lesson classroom curriculum
• Homework activities that involve the family
• Monthly parent newsletters
• A food shopping and packing guide for parents
• Food demonstrations
• A poster contest
• School wide announcements

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• 3rd or 4th grade student in participating classroom
• Brings food from home to school at least 3 days per week

• Child is a 3rd or 4th grade student in participating classroom
• Child brings food from home to school at least 3 days per week

Exclusion Criteria

• Not a 3rd or 4th grade student
• Not enrolled in a participating classroom
• Does not bring food from home to school at least three days per week

PARENT/CARETAKER PARTICIPANTS

• Child is not a 3rd or 4th grade student
• Child is not enrolled in a participating classroom
• Child does not bring food from home to school at least three days per week

• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Tufts University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Jeanne P Goldberg, PhD, RD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Tufts University

References

Hubbard KL, Must A, Eliasziw M, Folta SC, Goldberg J. What's in children's backpacks: foods brought from home. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2014 Sep;114(9):1424-31. doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2014.05.010. Epub 2014 Jul 16.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 25037557 (View on PubMed)

Goldberg JP, Folta SC, Eliasziw M, Koch-Weser S, Economos CD, Hubbard KL, Tanskey LA, Wright CM, Must A. Great Taste, Less Waste: a cluster-randomized trial using a communications campaign to improve the quality of foods brought from home to school by elementary school children. Prev Med. 2015 May;74:103-10. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2015.02.010. Epub 2015 Feb 28.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 25735605 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

1R01HD065888

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

1R01HD065888-01

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: org_study_id

View Link