The CONNECTS-Food Study: the development of an implementation intervention to support whole-school approaches to food
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN85297523 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN85297523 |
- Submission date
- 04/05/2021
- Registration date
- 10/05/2021
- Last edited
- 15/06/2023
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Nutritional, Metabolic, Endocrine
Plain English summary of protocol
Background and study aims
Children consume a third of their food at school, providing an opportunity to promote healthy diets and reduce levels of obesity. International and national organisations recommend that schools adopt approaches across the whole school day to support children to make healthy food choices, offering consistency in the quality of foods provided, eating culture, food education, and use of food to learn. In reality, uptake is poor, partly due to a lack of direction on how to use such an approach, but also because schools are highly complex environments with multiple competing demands, and influences from wider factors like national policy, cultural beliefs, population characteristics, and funding. The aim of this study is to design a practical intervention to help primary schools deliver existing policies which promote whole-school approaches to food.
Who can participate?
Eight schools across four sites (Bradford, Leeds, Belfast and Newcastle) are taking part in the study. Stakeholders within participating schools, including teachers, parents, children, and catering staff are invited to take part in system mapping workshops. Workshop participants will also be invited to join the intervention development team.
What does the study involve?
The researchers will partner with key people (stakeholders) including headteachers, teachers, staff, children, parents, school governors, and government representatives; host workshops with stakeholders to get a rich picture of all of the factors that influence food choice in the school day; develop the intervention alongside stakeholders; and explore whether their intervention can be feasibly used by schools across the UK.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
Participants will not receive any direct benefit from participation; however, they may feel a sense of satisfaction that their opinions will contribute towards the study and, potentially, to how schools prioritise food policies. The researchers also anticipate that they will enjoy meeting others (if face-to-face meetings are permitted) and some may benefit by acquiring skills/knowledge related to food and/or school policies.
Where is the study run from?
University of York in partnership with University of Leeds, Newcastle University, Queens University Belfast, University of Bradford and Born in Bradford (UK)
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
January 2021 to June 2022
Who is funding the study?
MRC Public Health Intervention Development Scheme (PHIND) (UK)
Who is the main contact?
Wendy Burton
wendy.burton@york.ac.uk
Contact information
Public
Health Sciences
University of York
Seebohm Rowntree Building
Heslington
York
YO10 5DD
United Kingdom
 ORCID ID |
0000-0001-7885-5971 |
|---|---|
| wendy.burton@york.ac.uk |
Study information
| Study design | Intervention development study |
|---|---|
| Primary study design | Observational |
| Secondary study design | Cross sectional study |
| Study setting(s) | School |
| Study type | Prevention |
| Participant information sheet | Available at https://www.york.ac.uk/healthsciences/research/public-health/projects/connects-food/schools-info/ |
| Scientific title | Co-design of a sustainable and acceptable implementation intervention to maximise the impact of whole school approaches to food within primary schools |
| Study acronym | CONNECTS-Food |
| Study objectives | The World Health Organisation and UK government recommend that schools adopt approaches across the whole school day that support children to make healthy food choices, offering consistency in the quality of foods provided, eating culture, education about diet, and use of food to learn. In reality, uptake is poor, partly due to a lack of direction on how to use such an approach, but also because schools work in highly complex environments with multiple competing demands, and influences from wider factors like national policy, cultural beliefs, population characteristics, costs and catering requirements. The researchers will design a practical and acceptable intervention to help primary schools adopt whole-school approaches to food. |
| Ethics approval(s) | Approved 01/02/2021, University of York Health Sciences Research Governance Committee (c/o Department of Philosophy, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK; +44 (0)1904 323253; smh12@york.ac.uk), ref: HSRGC/20210/428/A |
| Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied | Childhood obesity in primary school-aged children |
| Intervention | Systems mapping workshops will be held with stakeholders across eight school sites to develop a rich picture of the school food system, followed by the development of an intervention to support whole-school approaches to food using a co-design approach. |
| Intervention type | Other |
| Primary outcome measure | 'Systems map' of the school food system derived from eight systems mapping workshops held in May-July 2021 |
| Secondary outcome measures | 1. Key themes describing the factors influencing a whole school approach to food informed by qualitative inductive thematic analysis of workshop transcripts finalised by December 2021 2. Acceptability rating of the intervention design obtained from stakeholder engagement events held February to April 2022 |
| Overall study start date | 04/01/2021 |
| Completion date | 30/06/2022 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Mixed |
|---|---|
| Age group | Mixed |
| Sex | Both |
| Target number of participants | 64 |
| Total final enrolment | 82 |
| Key inclusion criteria | 1. Stakeholders from public and academy schools (including headteachers, teaching staff, catering staff, school governors, and parents) 2. Primary school children from any age group 3. External catering stakeholders (including representatives from catering and/or procurement services, and food supply chain agents (producers, distributors) 4. External local businesses (as appropriate) |
| Key exclusion criteria | 1. Stakeholders from private and specialist schools 2. Children whose families do not consent to take part |
| Date of first enrolment | 01/02/2021 |
| Date of final enrolment | 31/07/2021 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- England
- United Kingdom
Study participating centre
Seebohm Rowntree Building
Heslington
York
YO10 5DD
United Kingdom
Sponsor information
University/education
Heslington
York
YO10 5DD
England
United Kingdom
| Phone | +44 (0)1904 320 000 |
|---|---|
| rdteam@york.ac.uk | |
| Website | http://www.york.ac.uk/ |
"ROR" |
https://ror.org/04m01e293 |
Funders
Funder type
Research council
Government organisation / National government
- Alternative name(s)
- Medical Research Council (United Kingdom), UK Medical Research Council, MRC
- Location
- United Kingdom
Results and Publications
| Intention to publish date | 30/06/2023 |
|---|---|
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | No |
| IPD sharing plan summary | Not expected to be made available |
| Publication and dissemination plan | Planned publication in a high impact journal following systems mapping work followed by dissemination of the design of the intervention designed to support whole-school approaches to food. The protocol will be published in due course (if not accepted for publication the researchers will make a copy available). |
| IPD sharing plan | These data will be confidential qualitative data (workshop transcripts) which will not be available to anyone outside of the immediate research team, in line with the ethics approval. |
Study outputs
| Output type | Details | Date created | Date added | Peer reviewed? | Patient-facing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results article | 13/03/2023 | 15/06/2023 | Yes | No |
Editorial Notes
15/06/2023: Publication reference added.
15/07/2022: The total final enrolment has been changed from 84 to 82.
07/10/2021: The total final enrolment was added.
06/05/2021: Trial's existence confirmed by the Medical Research Council.
