A Positive Food Parenting Intervention to Promote Healthy Growth in Children at Risk for Obesity

NCT ID: NCT06981429

Last Updated: 2025-05-29

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 36 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2025-05-19
• Study Completion Date: 2026-02-26

Brief Summary

This study is the pilot of a 12 - week positive food parenting intervention focused on structure-based and autonomy promoting practices. The intervention aims to give parents the tools to promote healthy child growth and improve diet quality. The investigators are piloting to assess feasibility and efficacy of the intervention through examining participant retention, impact on parent feeding practices, and impact on parent and child diet quality.

Conditions

Pediatric Obesity; Nutrition Disorder

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Experimental Group - Positive Food Parenting Intervention

Participants randomly assigned to the experimental group.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Nourish to Flourish: The Power of Positive Food Parenting

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

This intervention focuses on increasing diet quality and parent use of positive food parenting practices with the goal of promoting healthy child growth). This will be a 12 - week, 12 session study. Sessions 1 and 12 will consist of collection baseline and post-intervention data. Sessions 2 - 11 will be a mix of online - group sessions and individual online or in - person sessions (based on participant preference). The group sessions are focused on principal investigator presentation of the intervention curriculum and group discussion. The individual sessions are focused on goal setting, coping planning, and working through individual situations with a trained coach.

Control Group

Participants randomly assigned to the control group.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Nourish to Flourish: The Power of Positive Food Parenting

This intervention focuses on increasing diet quality and parent use of positive food parenting practices with the goal of promoting healthy child growth). This will be a 12 - week, 12 session study. Sessions 1 and 12 will consist of collection baseline and post-intervention data. Sessions 2 - 11 will be a mix of online - group sessions and individual online or in - person sessions (based on participant preference). The group sessions are focused on principal investigator presentation of the intervention curriculum and group discussion. The individual sessions are focused on goal setting, coping planning, and working through individual situations with a trained coach.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Age > 18 years old.
• Have a child between the ages of 5 - 11 who is at risk for obesity (child BMI percentile > 85th) or parent it concerned about their child developing overweight or obesity
• Low use of positive food parenting (Defined as: low reports of individual nutrition education/ knowledge OR reports low levels of structure, involvement, or encouragement in their food parenting practices)
• Must be responsible for feeding their eligible child at least 50% of the time.
• Fluent in English.
• Have access to internet and a Zoom compatible device.

• Their parent/ guardian is eligible and participating in the study.
• Ages 5 - 11
• Is not current diagnosed with a clinical eating disorder (ED).
• Is not on any medications, or have any conditions, that could influence the child's taste, appetite, or olfactory sensory responsiveness.

Exclusion Criteria

• Age is < 18 years old. Their child is determined ineligible (based on BMI percentile and age).
• Does not report low use of positive food parenting (as defined above).
• Is responsible for feeding their eligible child < 50% of the time.
• Not fluent in English.
• Does not have access to internet and a Zoom compatible device.
• On medication that could influence their eating or feeding behaviors.

CHILD CRITERIA:

• Their parent/ guardian is not eligible nor participating in the study.
• Below the age of 5 and above the age of 11.
• BMI percentile < 85th and/or > 97th.
• Current diagnosis of a clinical eating disorder (ED)
• Medications or conditions that could influence the child's taste, appetite, or olfactory sensory responsiveness.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 5 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

State University of New York at Buffalo

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Responsible Party

Katherine Balantekin

Principal Investigator

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Katherine N Balantekin, PhD, RD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Assistant Professor, University at Buffalo

Locations

State University of New York at Buffalo, South Campus

Buffalo, New York, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

United States

Central Contacts

Katherine N Balantekin, PhD, RD

Role: CONTACT

knbalant@buffalo.edu

(716) 829-5578

Hannah E Kolpack, BS

Role: CONTACT

hkolpack@buffalo.edu

(716) 829 - 5820

Facility Contacts

Katherine N Balantekin, PhD, RD

Role: primary

knbalant@buffalo.edu

(716) 829-5578

Hannah E Kolpack, BS

Role: backup

hkolpack@buffalo.edu

(716) 829 - 5820

Other Identifiers

R03DK138232

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

STUDY00008522

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id