Plain English Summary
Not provided at time of registration
Trial website
Contact information
Type
Scientific
Primary contact
Prof Janet Cade
ORCID ID
Contact details
Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Nutritional Epidemiology Group
Room 8.001 Worsley Building
University of Leeds
Leeds
LS2 9JT
United Kingdom
+44 (0)113 343 6946
j.e.cade@leeds.ac.uk
Additional identifiers
EudraCT number
ClinicalTrials.gov number
Protocol/serial number
0000601794
Study information
Scientific title
Does the Royal Horticultural Society Campaign for School Gardening increase intake of fruit and vegetables in children? A cluster randomised controlled trial
Acronym
DIG - Diet/Growing
Study hypothesis
Does a programme of practical, structured gardening education have an impact on the diet of children in Key Stage 2 (KS2 - aged 8 to 9 years)?
Ethics approval
Application pending to University of Leeds Research Ethics Committee as of 02/12/2009.
Study design
Cluster randomised controlled trial
Primary study design
Interventional
Secondary study design
Randomised controlled trial
Trial setting
Other
Trial type
Quality of life
Patient information sheet
Not available in web format, please use the contact details below to request a patient information sheet
Condition
Improving children's diet
Intervention
The intervention package is the RHS Campaign for School Gardening. There are two main levels at which schools can be involved - more intensive and less intensive:
More intensive intervention:
Involves support from the RHS Regional Schools Advisor (RA). The role of the RA is to help schools develop a successful garden, work directly with teachers and pupils to give them support and practical advice. They are also charged with trying to help schools overcome particular barriers to developing gardening within schools. RA have the expertise and experience to tie in gardening and growing activities with the National Curriculum and to run staff training sessions for teachers.
Less intensive intervention:
Schools do not have direct support from the Regional Advisor but do have access to training from teachers in the partner (more intensive) schools in twilight teacher training sessions. They will be able to have e-mail contact with the RA and access to the RHS resources on the Internet as well as potential for a one-off training event at the school. This less intensive education package will be available for schools in trial 1 and trial 2.
The comparison schools in trial 2 will not be provided with additional support regarding growing fruit and vegetables. However, it is recognised that most schools will be engaging in some activity around this topic. Baseline evaluation of the schools will assess the level of active engagement with growing by these schools.
The nature of the intervention allows schools to tailor their engagement with the intervention according to their needs. We will monitor which activities are undertaken by the schools during the growing year and assess, through process measures, how compliant schools have been with the different aspects of the intervention undertaken. Schools in the study will be encouraged to keep a diary of the activities they undertake as part of the intervention and complete a questionnaire detailing these activities. The process measures will allow us to identify aspects of the Campaign which have influenced the effectiveness of the activities.
Our previous work with school interventions has shown a high level of follow up at 75%, meaning that likely loss to follow up will be in the region of 3 - 4 schools and 150 - 200 children. This has been taken into account in our recruitment strategy.
Intervention type
Other
Phase
Not Applicable
Drug names
Primary outcome measure
Daily portions of fruit and vegetable eaten, measured between January 2010 and April 2010 and again between September 2011 and December 2011.
Secondary outcome measures
1. Intake of key nutrients (measured between January 2010 and April 2010 and again between September 2011 and December 2011):
1.1. Total energy intake (MJ/day)
1.2. Fat intake (g/day)
1.3. Salt intake (g/day)
1.4. Intake of sugars (g/day)
1.5. Carotene intake (mg/day)
1.6. Vitamin C intake (mg/day)
2. Behavioural: Children's attitude to fruit and vegetable consumption - using a validated psychological questionnaire. Measured between January 2010 and April 2010 and again between September 2011 and December 2011.
3. School level: Involvement of schools in promoting consumption of fruit and vegetables (number of lessons devoted to school gardening and growing or learning about fruit and vegetables, school food policy, resources, involvement in other national/local food related initiatives)
4. Involvement by schools of parents in promoting consumption of fruit and vegetables among pupils
5. Process measures concerning the practicality of the intervention, timing, delivery, used and not used elements of the intervention, measured between January 2010 and July 2011.
Overall trial start date
01/10/2009
Overall trial end date
30/09/2012
Reason abandoned (if study stopped)
Eligibility
Participant inclusion criteria
Both trials:
1. Primary maintained schools in the London government region with classes in key stage 2 (years 3 - 6)
2. A minimum year group size of 15 pupils
3. Pupils aged 8 - 9 years, either sex
Trial 1:
1. Meet all of the above criteria
2. Have signed up to take part in the RHS Campaign for School Gardening
3. Have undertaken the benchmarking process
Trial 2:
1. Meet all of the above criteria (for both trials)
2. Have not signed up to take part in the RHS Campaign for School Gardening by the time of randomisation of schools in trial 1
Participant type
Patient
Age group
Child
Gender
Both
Target number of participants
58 schools (2900 pupils)
Participant exclusion criteria
Both trials:
1. Independent schools
2. Special schools
3. Schools without all 4 year groups (3 - 6)
4. Small schools with less than 15 pupils/year group
5. Schools that have previously participated in externally supported school growing projects
Recruitment start date
01/10/2009
Recruitment end date
30/09/2012
Locations
Countries of recruitment
United Kingdom
Trial participating centre
Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Leeds
LS2 9JT
United Kingdom
Sponsor information
Organisation
National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) (UK)
Sponsor details
Room 132 Richmond House
79 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2NL
United Kingdom
geh1@soton.ac.uk
Sponsor type
Government
Website
Funders
Funder type
Government
Funder name
National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) (UK) - Public Health Research (PHR) Programme (ref: 0000601794)
Alternative name(s)
Funding Body Type
Funding Body Subtype
Location
Results and Publications
Publication and dissemination plan
Not provided at time of registration
Intention to publish date
Participant level data
Not provided at time of registration
Basic results (scientific)
Publication list
2012 protocol in: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22537179
2013 results in: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23254183
Publication citations
-
Protocol
Christian MS, El Evans C, Conner M, Ransley JK, Cade JE, Study protocol: can a school gardening intervention improve children's diets?, BMC Public Health, 2012, 12, 304, doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-304.
-
Results
Christian MS, Evans CE, Hancock N, Nykjaer C, Cade JE, Family meals can help children reach their 5 a day: a cross-sectional survey of children's dietary intake from London primary schools., J Epidemiol Community Health, 2013, 67, 4, 332-338, doi: 10.1136/jech-2012-201604.