Preventing Early Childhood Obesity, Part 1: Family Spirit Nurture, 3-9 Months

This study aims to assess the impact of a brief home-visiting module, called "Family Spirit Nurture" (FSN), on American Indian (AI) parent feeding practices associated with increased risk for early childhood obesity, with a primary focus on delaying introduction of infants' Sugar Sweetened Beverage (SSB) (including soda, energy drinks, juice with added sugar and other drinks with added sugar) intake while teaching mothers complementary feeding and responsive parenting practices. The investigators will also assess how water insecurity may moderate parents' feeding of SSBs to young children. Finally, the investigators will explore whether maternal knowledge of oral health practices and/or reduction of infants' SSB intake influences early indicators of infant's oral health (i.e., infants' oral microbiome and plaque formation). Our evaluation will employ a randomized controlled design, in which the control condition receives a beneficial home-safety educational model and assistance in safety proofing their homes for small children. Assessments in both groups will occur at baseline (between 6 and 10 weeks postpartum) and 4 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months postpartum.

Primary Aims:

Aim 1: To determine the effectiveness of the brief (6 lessons) FSN home-visiting parent feeding practice module on reducing SSB initiation and frequency among infants between 3 and 12 months of age. Hypothesis 1: Infants whose mothers receive FSN vs. controls will be less likely to introduce SSBs between 3 and 12 months of age.

Aim 2: To determine the effectiveness of FSN to promote optimal complementary feeding and responsive parenting practices. Hypothesis 2: Mothers who receive FSN vs. controls will be more likely to practice recommended complementary feeding and responsive parenting practices between 3 and 12 months of age.

Aim 3: To determine the impact of water insecurity on SSB consumption among infants between 3 and 6 months of age. Hypothesis 2: Parents who report water insecurity vs. those who do not will be more likely to give infants SSBs between 3 and 6 months of age.

Secondary Aims:

Secondary Aim 1: To explore if provision of water to families reduces SSB intake among mothers and infants ages 6 to 9 months of age.

Secondary Aim 2: To explore if infants in the FSN intervention have better oral health outcomes than control infants up to 12 months postpartum.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The investigators will conduct a pilot randomized 1:1 controlled trial with 136 mother-infant dyads. Participants will be pre-screened for water insecurity and distributed equally across the two study arms using stratified block randomization. The intervention group (n=68) will receive the FSN home-visiting module, consisting of six 45-minute lessons delivered biweekly by trained local AI Family Health Coaches (FHCs), from 3 to 6 months postpartum. The lessons focus on elimination or reduction of Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) among infants while teaching mothers complementary feeding and responsive parenting practices. The control group (n=68) will receive three home-based lessons with home safety information (injury prevention is a priority identified by Navajo leadership that does not interfere with study questions). All families will receive delivery of drinking water from 6 to 9 months postpartum. Through this staggered design, the investigators will evaluate the impact of the FSN on infant feeding practices associated with increased risk for early childhood obesity, with a primary focus on delaying introduction of infant's SSB intake. The investigators will also be able to evaluate the impact of the availability of potable water on SSB intake, with or without family education. In addition, participants will have the opportunity to provide additional consent for a nested oral health study to evaluate the impact of the FSN curriculum and water provision on infant oral health indicators.

Methods:

Study implementation will include four phases:

Phase 1 (Referral, Recruitment, Consent, Baseline Assessment and Randomization): Potentially eligible mothers will be referred to our study staff, who will screen for eligibility, consent/assent mothers, conduct baseline assessment, and assign randomization status. Randomization will be assigned after the completion of the baseline assessment, including scoring of the participant's water insecurity status. Two randomization lists (one for water secure mothers and one for water insecure mothers) will be created prior to study initiation using STATA 14 statistical software37.

Part 2 (Home-Based Education Intervention): Local FHCs, trained and employed by Johns Hopkins, will deliver either the intervention (6-session FSN) or the control condition (3- Home-Safety Lessons) between 3 to 6 months postpartum.

Part 3 (Water Delivery): All participants will have drinking water delivered to their home from 6 to 9 months postpartum. FHCs will deliver water either weekly or less often, depending on needs of family. The amount of water delivered will be based on number of adults and children residing in home during this period of the study.

Part 4 (Assessment): Our assessment post-baseline consists of a mixed-methods assessment, including maternal self-reports and maternal FHC-administered interviews collected using REDCap at 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12 months postpartum and maternal and infant medical chart reviews. If consent is given for the nested oral health study, the additional assessments will include a maternal self-report measure, collection and microbiologic testing of infant plaque and saliva, an infant oral examination, tooth eruption evaluations and infant medical and dental chart reviews.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

136

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • New Mexico
      • Shiprock, New Mexico, United States, 87420
        • Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

13 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT, CHILD)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. American Indian ethnicity
  2. Female
  3. 13 years of age or older
  4. Mother to a baby between the ages of 0 and 2.5 months
  5. Living within 50 miles of the Northern Navajo Medical Center

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Inability to participate in full intervention or evaluation (e.g., planned move, residential treatment, etc.)
  2. Unwilling to be randomized

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: PREVENTION
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: NONE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Family Spirit Nurture (FSN)
The intervention group (n=68) will receive the Family Spirit Nurture (FSN) home-visiting module, consisting of six 45-minute lessons delivered biweekly by trained local American Indian Family Health Coaches (FHCs), from 3 to 6 months postpartum. The lessons focus on elimination or reduction of Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) among infants while teaching mothers complementary feeding and responsive parenting practices. Lessons are highly visual and interactive, and will incorporate cultural teachings related to infant feeding and nutrition that support aims. All families will receive water delivery of drinking water from 6 to 9 months postpartum.
The FSN intervention will be conducted over a 6-month period. Participants in the intervention group will receive 6- 45 minute lessons in their home or a private place of their choosing. The lessons focus on elimination or reduction of Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) among infants while teaching mothers complementary feeding and responsive parenting practices
Drinking water will be delivered to the household of each participant (both in the FSN intervention and control groups) from 6 to 9 months postpartum. The amount of water will be determined by the number of children and adults living in the household at the time of water delivery. The first delivery of water will occur at the time of the 6-month evaluation and the last delivery will occur at the time of the 9-month evaluation. Water will be delivered as often as weekly. Those families who do not need weekly water delivery (based on their preference and their usage of the first delivery of water) will receive water less frequently.
OTHER: Control Program
The control group (n=68) will receive three home-based lessons with home safety information (injury prevention is a priority identified by Navajo leadership that does not interfere with study questions). Mothers randomized to the control group will receive 3 educational lessons on home safety and child safety proofing. These meaningful topics were selected so as not to dilute measurement on key FSN outcomes and to provide benefit to all study participants. Lessons will be delivered monthly (at 3, 4 and 5 months postpartum) in the same format as the FSN lessons, by trained FHCs in the home of the participant or in a private place of their choosing. All families will receive water delivery of drinking water from 6 to 9 months postpartum.
Drinking water will be delivered to the household of each participant (both in the FSN intervention and control groups) from 6 to 9 months postpartum. The amount of water will be determined by the number of children and adults living in the household at the time of water delivery. The first delivery of water will occur at the time of the 6-month evaluation and the last delivery will occur at the time of the 9-month evaluation. Water will be delivered as often as weekly. Those families who do not need weekly water delivery (based on their preference and their usage of the first delivery of water) will receive water less frequently.
The control group will receive three home-based lessons with home safety information.Lessons will be delivered monthly (at 3, 4 and 5 months postpartum) in the same format as the FSN lessons, by trained FHCs in the home of the participant or in a private place of their choosing.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Reduction in SSB initiation and frequency among infants up to 12-months of age
Time Frame: 12-months of age
To determine the effectiveness of the brief (6 lessons) FSN home-visiting parent feeding practice module on reducing SSB initiation and frequency among infants between 3 months and 12 months of age
12-months of age
Change in optimal complementary feeding and responsive parenting practices in mothers who receive FSN vs controls
Time Frame: 3-months and 12-months of age
To determine the effectiveness of FSN to promote optimal complementary feeding and responsive parenting practices.
3-months and 12-months of age
Change in SSB consumption among infants due to water insecurity
Time Frame: 6-months of age
To determine the impact of water insecurity on SSB consumption among infants between 3 months and 6 months of age.
6-months of age

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Reduction in SSB intake among mothers and infants due to provision of water
Time Frame: 6-months to 9-months of age
Explore if provision of water to families reduces SSB intake among mothers and infants
6-months to 9-months of age
Change in oral health outcomes in infants in the FSN intervention vs control infants
Time Frame: Up to 12-months postpartum
Explore if infants in the FSN intervention have better oral health outcomes than control infants
Up to 12-months postpartum

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (ACTUAL)

March 29, 2017

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

August 1, 2019

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

October 18, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 20, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 29, 2017

First Posted (ACTUAL)

April 5, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

August 11, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 7, 2020

Last Verified

August 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 7476

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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