Effects of an Urban-gardening Nutrition Intervention for Food Insecure College Students

NCT ID: NCT06822803

Last Updated: 2025-02-12

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 107 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2019-08-05
• Study Completion Date: 2020-08-05

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if an urban gardening nutrition education program can have positive health effects on food insecure college students. The main question it aims to answer is to determine whether an 8-week urban-gardening nutrition intervention can improve fruit and vegetable intake, nutrition knowledge, Body Mass Index (BMI) and body fat percentage in college students with food insecurity.

Participants will:

Fill out a questionnaire regarding demographics, food insecurity, fruit and vegetable intake, nutrition knowledge, self-efficacy and health beliefs.

Allow researchers to measure height, weight and body fat percentage Participate in a 1-hour education cooking or gardening session once a week for 8 weeks Receive text message reminders for meeting dates

Conditions

Food Insecurity; Obesity Prevention

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Gardening Nutrition Education Program

Intervention group participants completed in person 1-hour educational sessions, once a week for 6 weeks, and completed the post test and anthropometric measurements on the 7th week. The sessions included nutrition education, recipes, cooking demos, home gardening tips, and a take home vertical garden. A satisfaction survey was also administered at the last educational session (week 6). Multiple weekly sessions were scheduled to accommodate the participants' schedules. Sessions were capped at 12 students to allow for a more personalized experience. Text messages were used weekly to remind the participants and confirm attendance for each session.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Gardening Nutrition Education Program

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

This intervention was a 6-week Social Cognitive Theory based, urban gardening, cooking and nutrition education program designed to change health behavior mediators, fruit and vegetable intake, stress, and life satisfaction in food insecure college students.

Control Group

Participants in this group did not receive the intervention.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Gardening Nutrition Education Program

This intervention was a 6-week Social Cognitive Theory based, urban gardening, cooking and nutrition education program designed to change health behavior mediators, fruit and vegetable intake, stress, and life satisfaction in food insecure college students.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Must be enrolled at FIU
• Age 18+ years old
• Literate in English
• Food insecure

Exclusion Criteria

• Students who are student athletes
• Women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant in the next 6 months

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Florida International University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Catherine Coccia, PhD, RD

Associate Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

Florida International University

Miami, Florida, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

IRB-19-0134

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id