MedDataX Logo

JUS Media? Programme: A Food-Focused Media Literacy Intervention for Americanized Adolescents and Mothers Globally

NCT ID: NCT04492592

Last Updated: 2020-07-31

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

Get a concise snapshot of the trial, including recruitment status, study phase, enrollment targets, and key timeline milestones.

Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

184 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2017-01-10

Study Completion Date

2017-12-31

Brief Summary

Review the sponsor-provided synopsis that highlights what the study is about and why it is being conducted.

The J(amaican and) U(nited) S(tates) Media? Programme is a culturally-tailored food-focused media literacy preventive intervention designed to promote healthier eating habits among remotely acculturating early adolescents and their mothers in Jamaica (i.e., they have internalized American culture) and are exposed to U.S. food advertising. The JUS Media? Programme consists of a 2-session face:face weekend workshop for adolescent-mother pairs supplemented by 8 weeks of SMS/text messages to reinforce workshop themes. Adolescents and their mothers learn critical thinking skills to combat the unhealthy food messages they encounter in food advertising, particularly advertising on U.S. cable TV. The efficacy of the JUS Media? Programme was evaluated with a small experimental study utilizing a randomized controlled trial design among adolescents and mothers in Jamaica.

Detailed Description

Dive into the extended narrative that explains the scientific background, objectives, and procedures in greater depth.

The Western diet is common in the United States and has a lot of salt, sugar, and fat. Modern globalization has shifted eating habits in many countries toward this unhealthy Western diet. For example, U.S. cable TV in other countries promotes this Western diet through advertisements for junk foods and sugary drinks. This is a major concern because experimental research studies show that seeing food advertising while watching TV leads to eating more food afterwards. Research studies also show that people who watch a lot of TV tend to think that junk food is not that harmful.

Researchers now believe that some people living outside the U.S. are drawn to the U.S. culture and lifestyle and can become "Americanized" through a process called remote acculturation. These Americanized people in other countries such as Jamaica are mostly teenagers, but sometimes also adults. Americanized people outside the United States are even more likely to adopt the unhealthy Western diet even though they have never lived in the United States. In research the investigators did before getting this grant, they showed that Americanized youth and mothers in Jamaica watched more hours of U.S. cable daily and also ate more unhealthy food. This led them to develop a new healthy eating education program for Americanized families in Jamaica that highlighted the role of U.S. media - the "J(amaican) U(nited) S(tates) Media? Programme". The JUS Media? Programme teaches young people and mothers to question the health messages in food advertising on U.S. cable TV so that they can be smarter and healthier consumers. For example, the JUS Media? Programme covers the recommended food guidelines in Jamaica and teaches adolescents and their mothers the principles of media literacy, such as to think about "who is the source of this message?" "what do they want you to do?" and "what information is missing?". Finally, the JUS Media? Programme teaches participants to use these media literacy principles to challenge unhealthy food advertisements by creating smart, funny parody versions called subvertisements.

In this project,the investigators evaluated how well the JUS Media? Programme worked for 7th graders and their mothers in Jamaica. About 30 adolescents and their mothers got a 2-session workshop, another 30 families got the workshop and text messages, and another 30 families did not get any part of the program.

Conditions

See the medical conditions and disease areas that this research is targeting or investigating.

Nutrition Poor

Study Design

Understand how the trial is structured, including allocation methods, masking strategies, primary purpose, and other design elements.

Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Primary Study Purpose

PREVENTION

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Participants
Participants were not told what arm of the intervention they were in (i.e., they were not told if they were receiving the intervention or not).

Study Groups

Review each arm or cohort in the study, along with the interventions and objectives associated with them.

Workshop Only

2 session weekend face:face workshop for adolescent-mother pairs

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

SMS/Texting

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

SMS/Texting

Workshop + SMS/Texting

2 session weekend face:face workshop for adolescent-mother pairs followed by 8 weeks of supplementary text messages (NOTE: there was no 'SMS/texting-only' arm of this study)

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Workshop

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Workshop

SMS/Texting

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

SMS/Texting

Control

No intervention provided.

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Learn about the drugs, procedures, or behavioral strategies being tested and how they are applied within this trial.

Workshop

Workshop

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

SMS/Texting

SMS/Texting

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Check the participation requirements, including inclusion and exclusion rules, age limits, and whether healthy volunteers are accepted.

Inclusion Criteria

• 7th grader enrolled in the participating schools and present at school on the days of recruitment.

Exclusion Criteria

* mother/student was not born in Jamaica
* mother/student is not a Jamaican citizen
* mother/student is a citizen (including dual citizen) of the United States
* mother/student has not lived in Jamaica for the past 15 years (mother) or 8 years (student)
* mother and student do not live together
* mother has been primary guardian for \<5 years
* study screening scores show no U.S. TV usage or no affinity for the U.S. culture, and very low junk food consumption
Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

Meet the organizations funding or collaborating on the study and learn about their roles.

The University of The West Indies

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Minnesota

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

Identify the individual or organization who holds primary responsibility for the study information submitted to regulators.

Gail Marcia Ferguson

Associate Professor

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

References

Explore related publications, articles, or registry entries linked to this study.

Ferguson GM, Meeks Gardner JM, Nelson MR, Giray C, Sundaram H, Fiese BH, Koester B, Tran SP, Powell R. Food-Focused Media Literacy for Remotely Acculturating Adolescents and Mothers: A Randomized Controlled Trial of the "JUS Media? Programme". J Adolesc Health. 2021 Dec;69(6):1013-1023. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.06.006. Epub 2021 Jul 17.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 34281754 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

Review additional registry numbers or institutional identifiers associated with this trial.

17182

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id