Reach Through Equitable Implementation of Turtle Island Tales is a family-level obesity prevention intervention that aims to reinforce AI cultural values of family interaction and holistic wellness. The long-term objective of this research program is to increase the reach of existing evidence-based interventions (EBIs) for cancer and obesity prevention among American Indian (AI) families who live in persistent poverty census tracts.
Turtle Island Tales is an obesity prevention program for AI families with young children (3-8 years) that was developed to address the gap in home-based, family wellness programs for this population. Substantial research as been conducted on the effectiveness of this program for participating families. The primary aim of the current project is to investigate community-engaged dissemination to improve the reach of Turtle Island Tales. Dissemination strategies will be undertaken in partnership with community leaders and/or local Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) agents who will disseminate the program through existing Extension/SNAP-Ed delivery mechanisms (SNAP-Ed is commonly administered through Extension programs of land-grant universities). Turtle Island Tales was accepted as a SNAP-Ed eligible program in 2022. As such, the program will be administered as part of usual/typical SNAP-Ed delivery in participating communities and largely constitutes program evaluation. The primary research question is: What is the reach of the evidence-based Turtle Island Tales wellness program intervention within AI communities? A secondary aim for this project is determining the effectiveness of Turtle Island Tales among participating families using program evaluation survey data obtained via SNAP-Ed program evaluation.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
200
All participating families will receive a monthly lesson targeting a healthy behavior (increase fruit/vegetable intake, decrease added sugar intake, increase physical activity, decrease sedentary/screen time, promote healthy sleep, and promote emotional regulation) over the course of one year.
Montana State University
Bozeman, Montana, United States
20-item Family Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey
Pre- and post-evaluation of effectiveness in behavioral outcomes including family-level questions targeting diet, physical activity, screen time, and sleep. The total score is used as the summary score, with a higher score indicating a more positive family home environment relative to health behaviors.
Time frame: one year
Food insecurity screener
United States Department of Agriculture Household Food Insecurity 2-item screener: 1) "We worried whether our food would run out before we got money to buy more" and 2) "The food we bought just didn't last and we didn't have money to get more." An affirmative response ("Often True" or "Sometimes True") on either item is considered positive for food insecurity.
Time frame: one year
Mental Health screening
Two items from the validated Short Form-12 survey: 1) In the last month, how often have you felt that you were unable to control the important things in your life? and 2) In the last month, how often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your personal problems? Scores are summed, with a higher score being associated with more positive mental health status.
Time frame: one year
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