Scouting Nutrition and Activity Program

Kansas State University76 enrolled

Overview

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention designed to prevent obesity by improving the environmental characteristics of Girl Scouts troop meetings.

Girls and parents affiliated with Girl Scouts Juniors programs completed a questionnaire prior to the beginning of an intervention program, and again after the program. Children responded to previously validated questionnaire items assessing demographics, parent-child connectedness, parent-child physical activity, screen time usage, family meal-time environment, consumption of fruits and vegetables, soda, and fast food. Parents completed a similar questionnaire, assessing demographics, parent-child connectedness, parent-child physical activity, family mealtime environment, parenting style and parenting practices. Children were also assessed on height and weight to characterize their risk for overweight status. Questionnaires and environmental observations were used to assess the effectiveness of an intervention designed to improve the family meal-time environment at home, as well as helping to assess the relationships between parental factors and family health-related behavior.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Obesity

Interventions

Scouting Nutrition and Activity ProgramBEHAVIORAL

Intervention group will receive a curriculum based on social cognitive theory, wherein children will be taught skills in a supportive environment to improve their self efficacy and proxy efficacy toward eating healthful meals and being physically active with a parent. Troop leaders and parents will provide support, and help girls to create healthy opportunities in the home environment. Simultaneously, girls will be taught skills to improve the family mealtime environment, to bolster asking skills toward healthy behavior, to self-monitor healthy behavior, and to set goals for healthy behavior.

Standard-care attentional controlBEHAVIORAL

Control troops complete usual troop meeting activities. Control troops receive equal observation time, equal pretest and posttest assessment, and equal study scrutiny.

Eligibility

Sex: FEMALEMin age: 8 YearsMax age: 12 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Girls had to be attending members of Girl Scouts in one of our included troops. * The troop needed to be a registered Girl Scouts Juniors troop, consisting of girls primarily in the 4th and 5th grades. * To be officially registered, the troop leaders were required to complete Girl Scout leader training and pass a criminal background check. * To be included, the troops also needed to meet at least twice per month, have meeting facilities capable of allowing physical activity and food preparation. * Also, troops needed to have initial agreement of leaders and parents for the troop to participate in a research study. Exclusion Criteria: * An inability to speak or read English. * Troops not primarily composed of Girl Scouts Juniors, not regularly meeting during the study period, or not having leader and parental consensus approval for troop participation.

Locations (1)

Kansas State University

Manhattan, Kansas, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Body mass index percentile ranking

Time frame: 5 months

Secondary Outcomes

Obesity-related behaviors

Time frame: 5 months

Troop environmental encouragement and opportunities for healthful eating and physical activity

Time frame: continuous

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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