Evaluation of the Healthy Apple program to improve nutrition and physical activity practices and child weight change in child care centers in San Francisco
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN18857356 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN18857356 |
| Secondary identifying numbers | N/A |
- Submission date
- 16/04/2015
- Registration date
- 24/04/2015
- Last edited
- 17/05/2023
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Nutritional, Metabolic, Endocrine
Plain English Summary
Background and study aims
In the USA, First Lady Michelle Obama started a nationwide child care initiative called ‘Let's Move!’ which aims to improve nutrition and physical activity practices in child care centres to promote healthy childhood weight. The Healthy Apple (HA) Program, developed by various organisations based in San Francisco, provides services specifically designed to support ‘Let's Move!’ and aims to tackle childhood obesity in children aged 0-5. The San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDH) has an existing Child Care Health Program (CCHP) which promotes routine health screening of children and improvement of school health programmes. CCHP centres mainly help children from low income families. The aim of this study is to see whether child care centres using the HA programme alongside usual CCHP services could improve child care centre nutrition and physical activity practices better than centres using CCHP services alone. The study is also comparing changes in children’s body mass index (BMI) during the course of a year in HA+CCHP centres and CCHP-alone centres.
Who can participate?
Children and staff of child care centres serviced by the SFDH CCHP.
What does the study involve?
Participating child care staff complete HA self-assessment questionnaires at the start and end of the trial. Staff receive help to implement positive changes to their centre’s health programme, based on their own suggestions. Trained HA health workers visit centres and make note of their health and nutrition resources, such as play equipment and healthy food options. Staff are also interviewed about their centre’s practices. Health workers also record the height and weight of each child to calculate their BMI.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
Participating child care centres may show greater implementation of best practices for health and nutrition. Children who attend participating centres may show improved weight gain/loss as a result of better understanding of healthy eating choices and lifestyle. There are no risks associated with taking part in this study.
Where is the study run from?
San Francisco Department of Public Health, Child Care Health Program (USA)
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
September 2011 to June 2014
Who is funding the study?
San Francisco Department of Public Health (USA)
Who is the main contact?
Dr J Stookey
jodi.stookey@sfdph.org
Contact information
Scientific
SFDPH MCAH
30 Van Ness, Ste 210
San Francisco
94102
United States of America
 ORCID ID |
0000-0001-9604-2392 |
|---|---|
| Phone | +1 (0)415 575 5651 |
| jodi.stookey@sfdph.org |
Study information
| Study design | Cluster randomised controlled trial. |
|---|---|
| Primary study design | Interventional |
| Secondary study design | Cluster randomised trial |
| Study setting(s) | School |
| Study type | Prevention |
| Participant information sheet | Not available in web format, please use contact details to request a participant information sheet. |
| Scientific title | Healthy Apple Program pilot intervention for child care centers in San Francisco to improve their nutrition and physical activity practices and mean weight change for enrolled children ages 2 to 4 over 6 months |
| Study acronym | HAP pilot |
| Study hypothesis | Child care centers that participate in the Healthy Apple (HA) program increase the number of nutrition and physical activity best practices and improve the mean weight change of enrolled children over 6 months relative to child care centers that do not participate in the HA program. |
| Ethics approval(s) | UCSF Human Research Protection Program Committee on Human Research, 13/06/2015, IRB #: 15-16534, Reference #: 138098 |
| Condition | Nutrition and physical activity practices of child care centers and weight change of children enrolled in child care centers. |
| Intervention | 1. Intervention group receives usual San Francisco Dept of Health Child Care Health Program (SFDH CCHP) services plus additional invitation to: 1.1. Complete a Healthy Apple provider self-assessment 1.2. Set goals for improving nutrition and/or physical activity practices 1.3. Receive Healthy Apple technical assistance materials 1.4. Attend Healthy Apple nutrition and physical activity workshops 1.5. Receive a Healthy Apple award recognizing nutrition and/or physical activity best practices 2. Control group receives usual SFDH CCHP services, which include health worker assessment of child care center nutrition and physical activity resources and BMI screening for all enrolled children. |
| Intervention type | Behavioural |
| Primary outcome measure | Number of nutrition and physical activity best practices implemented |
| Secondary outcome measures | Child care center mean 6 month change in BMI percentile |
| Overall study start date | 01/09/2011 |
| Overall study end date | 31/12/2015 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Other |
|---|---|
| Age group | Child |
| Lower age limit | 2 Years |
| Upper age limit | 4 Years |
| Sex | Both |
| Target number of participants | 38 child care centers/~900 children ages 2-4 |
| Participant inclusion criteria | All children enrolled at the participating child care centers serviced by the SFDH CCHP are eligible to take part, and for services and follow-up. |
| Participant exclusion criteria | Child care centers not served by the SFDPH CCHP. |
| Recruitment start date | 01/09/2011 |
| Recruitment end date | 30/06/2014 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- United States of America
Study participating centre
San Francisco
94117
United States of America
Sponsor information
Government
30 Van Ness
San Francisco
94102
United States of America
"ROR" |
https://ror.org/017ztfb41 |
|---|
Funders
Funder type
Government
No information available
Results and Publications
| Intention to publish date | 01/01/2016 |
|---|---|
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | No |
| IPD sharing plan summary | Not expected to be made available |
| Publication and dissemination plan | We plan to publish the effect of Healthy Apple program participation on change in nutrition and physical activity best practices and 6-month change in BMI percentile. We expect to submit a manuscript for publication in Fall 2015. |
| IPD sharing plan |
Study outputs
| Output type | Details | Date created | Date added | Peer reviewed? | Patient-facing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results article | results | 19/12/2017 | 23/01/2019 | Yes | No |
| Dataset | 19/12/2017 | 17/05/2023 | No | No |
Editorial Notes
17/05/2023: Dataset added.
23/01/2019: Publication reference added
30/03/2016: Ethics approval information added.
