Psychoeducational Intervention Model to Improve Nutritional Status in Low Resource Settings

A Psychoeducational Intervention Model in Nutrition to Improve Nutritional Status in 15 Low Resource Populations Through a Network of Food Banks in Mexico.

Comer en Familia is a psychoeducational intervention in nutrition aimed to improve nutritional status in families, particularly mothers and caregivers of children between the ages of 5 and 13 years and their children through providing healthy cooking lessons in their communities where the optimal preparation and use of local foods based on vegetables is promoted at the same time the importance of cooking at home and eating as a family is highlighted.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Malnutrition; Malnutrition, Child; Malnutrition in Children; Child Malnutrition; Child Overnutrition; Nutrition Disorders, Child
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Psychoeducational intervention

Detailed Description

It is well known that in order to promote a proper nutrition and to prevent malnutrition in Mexican population, both by deficiencies and excesses, it is essential to recover Mexican food culture. It is known that only information is insufficient to implement healthy lifestyles. There are a number of barriers that interfere with the adoption of healthy dietary practices that need to be identified and addressed in order to achieve the adoption of healthy eating behaviors. Therefore, Comer en Familia focuses on the people, their lifestyles, motivations and social context, based on an action methodology. To design the program, culinary traditions from different country regions were integrated, the habits of proper food preparation at home, promoting eating in the company of family with special emphasis on the importance of enjoying the taste of food were also integrated. This model delivers information on the transcendence of preparing food at home, the impact of nutrients on health and the influence of eating habits of the family in the conducts of their members in a practical way. Comer en Familia is a nutritional educational model that aims to promote proper nutrition, and therefore improve health and welfare of the beneficiaries of food banks. Through 24 cooking workshops throughout a period of a year, each workshop every 15 days, communities will be trained in optimal food preparation and the use of local food, based mainly on vegetables, while promoting the importance of cooking and having family meals. Anthropometric evaluations and interviews on food practices will be conducted to the beneficiaries at the beginning and at the end of the program. Anthropometric evaluations will be carried out and psychosocial risks surveys will be applied to the children in charge of the mothers/ caregivers from Comer en Familia. Also, in a sub-sample of the population of mothers/caregivers benefitted from the program, fasting capillary glucose and hemoglobin will be measured at the beginning and at the end of Comer en Familia.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 12400
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Mexico
  • Mexico, Mexico, 06700
    • Banco de Alimentos de Mexico

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 50 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age 18 to 50 years
• Premenopausal
• Related to the decision of purchase, planning, elaboration-preparation of meals at home.
• Not being pregnant during the period of the study or the six prior months, and planning not to be pregnant at least 3 months after the last visit of the study.
• With a child in her care between the ages of 5 and 13 years and that fulfills the inclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pregnant or breastfeeding
• With a hysterectomy in the past 3 months
• Alcohol consumption > 14 drinks a week
• Use of vitamin supplements

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Psychoeducational intervention; Participants will be receiving a cooking lesson in their community every 2 weeks for 1 year.	Behavioral: Psychoeducational intervention; A mobile kitchen visits the 16 selected communities every 2 weeks for a period of 1 year. A 30 minute cooking lesson is given by a trained instructor, the recipes have been designed to be quick and easy to make, use local and inexpensive ingredients, contain mostly vegetables and have a good taste. During the lesson, healthy habit and cooking tips are mentioned as well as the importance of cooking at home and having family meals . A printed version of the recipe is given to every participant. Every session participants are encouraged to prepare the recipe. At the end of the lesson all the participants get to taste the meal and express their opinion.; Other Names: Psychoeducational intervention in nutrition
No Intervention: Usual Food Practices - AC; These are participants from the communities where the intervention is active but are not attending the cooking lessons.
No Intervention: Usual Food Practices - NAC; These are participants from a community where the intervention is not active.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Change in food knowledge and behavior Questionnaire	Baseline, 1 year
Change in Weight	Baseline, 1 year
Change in height	Baseline, 1 year
Change in psychosocial risk Questionnaire	Baseline, 1 year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in capillary hemoglobin	Capillary blood sample	Baseline, 1 year
Change in capillary glucose	Capillary blood sample	Baseline, 1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Universidad de Monterrey
• Collaborators: FEMSA Foundation; Mexican Food Banks

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 19, 2017
• Study Completion (Actual): March 1, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 22, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 23, 2016
• First Posted (Estimate): September 26, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 3, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 30, 2018
• Last Verified: April 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Malnutrition; Nutrition Disorders; Child Nutrition Disorders; Overnutrition
• Other Study ID Numbers: 502016-CIE

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No