Plain English Summary
Background and study aims
Unhealthy eating in young people is a major problem in the UK and can put children at risk of a wide range of health issues, initially in childhood, and then adulthood. There is evidence to suggest that positive eating behaviours encouraged at home can protect children against some of these health issues and that parents may be more likely to employ positive feeding strategies when they are not anxious about mealtimes. This study involves two online programmes that Netmums and the University of Reading have designed. One of these focuses on healthy family eating, and the other on kids’ wellbeing. The aim of this study is to find out which programme is more effective at improving family eating behaviours.
Who can participate?
Adults with at least one child aged between 1 and 16 years old who is living with them.
What does the study involve?
Participants are randomly allocated to one of two groups. Those in the first group receive the healthy family eating programme. This involves receiving a series of nine emails over a period of three weeks that provide information on food swaps, healthy recipes, tips to encourage fussy eaters and ideas for activities to focus the family on food and cooking, emphasizing enjoyment and happy mealtimes. Those in the second group receive the kids’ wellbeing programme. This involves receiving a similarly formatted series of nine emails over a period of three weeks that provide information on general wellbeing topics such as tooth brushing and screentime. At the start of the study, after the three week programmes finish and then six months later, participants complete a number of questionnaires in order to measure family eating habits.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
There is a chance that participants may benefit from a healthier family diet, improved long-term health outcomes and decreased anxiety around family mealtimes for those who receive the family eating programme. There is a small risk that some participants may become distressed or anxious about their family's diet. This is addressed at each data collection point by suggesting that anyone concerned should either visit their GP or contact the Principal Investigator.
Where is the study run from?
University of Reading (UK)
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
January 2016 to December 2018
Who is funding the study?
Economic and Social Research Council (UK)
Who is the main contact?
1. Dr Kate Harvey (scientific)
k.n.harvey@reading.ac.uk
2. Ms Sarah Snuggs (public)
s.j.snuggs@pgr.reading.ac.uk
Trial website
Contact information
Type
Public
Primary contact
Ms Sarah Snuggs
ORCID ID
Contact details
School of Psychology & Clinical Language Sciences
Harry Pitt Building
University of Reading
Reading
RG6 7BE
United Kingdom
+44 7793 563901
s.j.snuggs@pgr.reading.ac.uk
Type
Scientific
Additional contact
Dr Kate Harvey
ORCID ID
Contact details
School of Psychology & Clinical Language Sciences
Harry Pitt Building
University of Reading
Reading
RG6 7BE
United Kingdom
+44 118 378 7524
k.n.harvey@reading.ac.uk
Additional identifiers
EudraCT number
ClinicalTrials.gov number
Protocol/serial number
N/A
Study information
Scientific title
Healthy Happy Family Eating: A randomised controlled trial of an online family eating intervention
Acronym
HHFE RCT
Study hypothesis
The aim of this study is to evaluate an online intervention designed to improve family eating behaviours.
Null hypothesis:
There will be no difference between the intervention group and the control group on family eating outcome measures.
Alternative hypothesis:
The intervention group will show greater improvement on these measures compared to the control group.
Ethics approval
University of Reading School of Psychology & Clinical Sciences Research Ethics Committee, 01/08/2016
Ammendment to the questionnaire approved on 28/09/2016
Study design
Randomised controlled trial
Primary study design
Interventional
Secondary study design
Randomised controlled trial
Trial setting
Internet
Trial type
Quality of life
Patient information sheet
See additional files
Condition
Unhealthy eating
Intervention
Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups electronically when signing up to the study.
Intervention group - Healthy Happy Family Eating programme: Participants receive a series of nine emails that provide information on food swaps, healthy recipes, tips to encourage fussy eaters and ideas for activities to focus the family on food and cooking. There is an emphasis on enjoyment and happy mealtimes. The intervention has been designed through a collaboration between the University of Reading and the parenting website Netmums. The team also consulted a nutritional therapist on the intervention’s content.
Control group - Kids’ Wellbeing programme: Participants receive a series of nine emails, similar in format to the emails in the intervention condition, that provide information on general wellbeing topics such as tooth brushing and screentime. The emails are based on existing information on the Netmums website and do not include any topics that might encourage families to eat more healthily or participate in more activities together as a family.
Both the active and the control interventions last for three weeks, during which participants will receive nine emails. Data is collected at three time-points with the use of online questionnaires; baseline (immediately before receiving the first email - questionnaire completion triggers the first email), immediately after the ninth email has been received (i.e. baseline + 3 weeks) and six month follow up (i.e. six months after intervention completion).
Intervention type
Behavioural
Phase
Drug names
Primary outcome measure
1. Healthy environment/healthy food availability in the home is measured using the Healthy Environment subscale of the Child Feeding Practice Questionnaire (CFPQ)
2. Child enjoyment of food is measured using the Enjoyment of Food subscale of the Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ)
3. Shared family meal frequency is measured using a measure developed by the researchers for the purpose of this study
All measures will be collected at baseline, immediately after the intervention period and 6-months after the intervention period has ended.
Secondary outcome measures
1. Parental modelling of eating healthy food, parental encouragement of balance and variety, and involvement of children in meal planning and preparation is measured using three further subscales of the CFPQ: Modelling, Balance & Variety and Involvement
2. Children's food fussiness is measured using one further subscale of the CEBQ: Food fussiness
3. Home-cooking/use of raw ingredients measure (developed by the researchers, based on a measure used in the pilot work)
4. Weekly food budget is measured using a visual analogue scale
All measures will be collected at baseline, immediately after the intervention period and 6-months after the intervention period has ended.
Overall trial start date
11/01/2016
Overall trial end date
31/12/2018
Reason abandoned (if study stopped)
Eligibility
Participant inclusion criteria
1. Able to read and understand English
2. Have at least one child under the age of 16 and over the age of 1 year living with them some of the time
3. An existing member of the parenting website Netmums or willing to join as a member
Participant type
All
Age group
Adult
Gender
Both
Target number of participants
1,500 (more to be recruited in the first instance to establish attrition rates)
Participant exclusion criteria
Not meeting inclusion criteria.
Recruitment start date
15/11/2016
Recruitment end date
31/03/2017
Locations
Countries of recruitment
United Kingdom
Trial participating centre
University of Reading
School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences
Reading
RG6 7BE
United Kingdom
Sponsor information
Organisation
Netmums
Sponsor details
Henry Wood House
2 Riding House Street
London
W1W 7FA
United Kingdom
Sponsor type
Other
Website
Funders
Funder type
Research council
Funder name
Economic and Social Research Council
Alternative name(s)
ESRC
Funding Body Type
government organisation
Funding Body Subtype
Federal/National Government
Location
United Kingdom
Results and Publications
Publication and dissemination plan
Planned publication in a high-impact peer reviewed journal.
IPD Sharing plan:
The current data sharing plans for the current study are unknown and will be made available at a later date.
Intention to publish date
31/03/2018
Participant level data
To be made available at a later date
Basic results (scientific)
Publication list
Publication citations
Additional files
- ISRCTN11278880_PIS_10Nov16.docx Uploaded 12/01/2017