The GREEN Project Lunch Box Study

March 23, 2015 updated by: Tufts University

The GREEN (Growing Right: Eating Eco-Friendly & Nutritious) Project Lunch Box Study

The central hypothesis of The GREEN Project Lunch Box Study is that a school-based communication campaign that combines healthy eating and eco-friendly messages will improve the quality of foods that children bring from home to school more than a healthy eating campaign alone and compared to a control/delayed intervention condition at the end of one school year.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The proposed intervention seeks to improve the quality of foods brought to school from home by taking advantage of a natural synergy between healthy eating and eco-friendly behaviors to increase motivation to adopt healthy eating behaviors. The project involves the design, implementation and evaluation of a novel, school based communications campaign to simultaneously improve the nutrition quality and eco-friendliness of foods that elementary school children bring from home to school.

The intervention is a theory-based multi-channel communications campaign based on qualitative research with the target population: children in grades three and four in public schools in Eastern Massachusetts and their caregivers. Schools were randomized to one of three conditions: (1) a campaign that includes healthy eating and eco-friendly messages; (2) a campaign that includes healthy eating messages only; and (3) a delayed healthy eating eco-friendly campaign after serving as a control group. Foods brought from home and the packaging associated with those foods will be assessed at baseline and at the end of the school year using a photographic technique.

The primary outcome of interest is change in the number of servings of fruits and vegetables. Secondary outcomes will include changes in the quantity of sugar-sweetened beverages; changes in processed, energy-dense foods; and changes in sugar sweetened beverages brought from home. We will also be able to assess changes in trash associated with foods brought from home.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

979

Phase

  • Not Applicable

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

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

CHILD PARTICIPANTS

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 3rd or 4th grade student in participating classroom
  • Brings food from home to school at least 3 days per week

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Not a 3rd or 4th grade student
  • Not enrolled in a participating classroom
  • Does not bring food from home to school at least three days per week

PARENT/CARETAKER PARTICIPANTS

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Child is a 3rd or 4th grade student in participating classroom
  • Child brings food from home to school at least 3 days per week

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Child is not a 3rd or 4th grade student
  • Child is not enrolled in a participating classroom
  • Child does not bring food from home to school at least three days per week

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

  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Healthy Eating + Eco-Friendly Campaign
Behavioral: Healthy Eating + Eco-Friendly Campaign

Participants receive a 6-month school-based campaign that includes:

  • A 22-lesson classroom curriculum
  • Homework activities that involve the family
  • Monthly parent newsletters
  • A food shopping and packing guide for parents
  • Food demonstrations
  • A poster contest
  • School wide announcements
Active Comparator: Healthy Eating Campaign
Behavioral: Healthy Eating Campaign

Participants receive a 6-month school-based campaign that includes:

  • A 22-lesson classroom curriculum
  • Homework activities that involve the family
  • Monthly parent newsletters
  • A food shopping and packing guide for parents
  • Food demonstrations
  • A poster contest
  • School wide announcements
No Intervention: Control/Delayed Intervention

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Changes in the quantity of fruit and vegetables brought from home to school
Time Frame: 6 months
6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Changes in the quantity of sugar-sweetened beverages brought from home to school
Time Frame: 6 months
6 months
Changes in the quantity of processed, energy-dense foods brought from home to school
Time Frame: 6 months
6 months
Changes in trash weight associated with foods brought from home to school
Time Frame: 6 months
6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Tufts University

Collaborators

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Jeanne P Goldberg, PhD, RD, Tufts University

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.

General Publications

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

September 1, 2011

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2012

Study Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2013

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 3, 2012

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 5, 2012

First Posted (Estimate)

April 10, 2012

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

March 25, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 23, 2015

Last Verified

March 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 1R01HD065888-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
  • 1R01HD065888 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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