Effect of the Enhanced Summer Food Service Program on Schoolchildren (PHAST)

Assessing the Effect of the Enhanced Summer Food Service Program on the Health of Schoolchildren

Convergent findings from several studies document that children, especially those who are already overweight or obese or from racial / ethnic minority groups, are at risk for accelerated weight gain during the summer months. Therefore, this project is comprised of three separate community-based interventions designed to increase access to healthy meals and physical activity opportunities to minimize excess summer weight gain in elementary school children from a diverse, low-income Rhode Island community. Specifically, we will complete a quasi-experimental study in which we will design and deliver a physical activity intervention in conjunction with the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) to 50 children living in a low-income, urban community. We anticipate that the addition of physical activity programming to the SFSP, a federal program funded by the USDA which reimburses states for serving lunch meals to children during the summer in communities where at least 50% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals, will increase both the acceptability and effectiveness of the SFSP and affect 1) physical activity levels, 2) sedentary behavior, and 3) diet quality. The primary outcome (change in BMI z-score) will be compared between the 50 kids enrolled in the active intervention and 50 children enrolled in the control condition, both recruited from the same community.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Pediatric Obesity
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Intervention

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 85
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Rhode Island
    • Providence, Rhode Island, United States, 02906
      • The Miriam Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 6 years to 12 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Low-income (defined as qualifying for free or reduced-price meals as part of the National School Lunch Program)
• Ages 6-12 years
• Ability of child to speak, read and write English (for purposes of assessment and intervention)
• Parent/guardian involvement
• Agreement to study participation
• Intent to participate in the SFSP in the upcoming summer

Exclusion Criteria:

• Medical condition that would interfere with participation in physical activity
• Enrolled in a camp or other physical activity based summer program.

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

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control; No treatment control
Experimental: Intervention; Daily, four-hour physical activity intervention	Behavioral: Intervention; Physical activity programming in accordance with the SPARK - After School curriculum as well as engaging activities provided by local community partners. The intervention proceeded the SFSP lunch meal service, so that children received approximately three hours of physical activity programming daily.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in BMI z-score over the summer	BMI was measured at the baseline visit (early June 2016) and three months later at the end of the summer (late August, 2016). Outcome of interest was change (BMIz at f/u - BMIz at baseline)	Three months (summer)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Physical Activity	Activity was measured using a wrist-worn ActiGraph for 7-days. Outcome of interest was minutes of bout-related moderate to vigorous physical activity	Cross-sectional measure taken for 7 days during the window of weeks 4-6 of the 8 week intervention
Sedentary Behavior	Activity was measured using a wrist-worn ActiGraph for 7-days. Outcome of interest was percent of total wear time spent sedentary (<100 counts/minute)	Cross-sectional measure taken for 7 days during the window of weeks 4-6 of the 8 week intervention
Energy intake	Reported calorie intake from three, non-consecutive 24-hour diet recalls	Cross-sectional measure taken for 7 days during the window of weeks 4-6 of the 8 week intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The Miriam Hospital
• Collaborators: Brown University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Evans EW, Bond DS, Pierre DF, Howie WC, Wing RR, Jelalian E. Promoting health and activity in the summer trial: Implementation and outcomes of a pilot study. Prev Med Rep. 2018 Feb 16;10:87-92. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2018.02.008. eCollection 2018 Jun.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 15, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 1, 2016
• Study Completion (Actual): September 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 4, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 13, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): April 18, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): September 4, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 3, 2019
• Last Verified: March 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Physical Activity; Diet; Low-income; Sedentary behavior; Summer
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Overnutrition; Nutrition Disorders; Overweight; Body Weight; Obesity; Pediatric Obesity
• Other Study ID Numbers: GFT640211

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