Talking With Children About Weight and Lifestyle

November 10, 2021 updated by: Maastricht University Medical Center

Talking With Children About Weight and Lifestyle - Dutch Title: In Gesprek Over Gewicht en Leefstijl Met Kinderen

Obesity among children is a major problem. Therefore, it is important to start promoting a healthy lifestyle in an early stage. However, professionals find it difficult to start a conversation about overweight and lifestyle. Within Centre for Overweight Adolescent and Children's Healthcare (COACH) at the Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC+) a tool was developed, based on motivational interviewing, to help professionals engage in conversation with the children about weight and lifestyle.

The aim of this study is to identify barriers and facilitators perceived by professionals, working with children, to start a conversation with a child with overweight or obesity about weight and lifestyle. In addition, this study researches the effects of the developed COACH Conversationstarter, a tool that can help healthcare professionals to start a conversation with children about overweight and lifestyle and to gain more insight in the views, thoughts and beliefs of the child and its family.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Overweight and Obesity

Intervention / Treatment

Other: Training COACH Conversationstarter

Detailed Description

Overweight and obesity among children are major problems, not only in The Netherlands, but globally. Childhood obesity is associated with an increased risk for the development of different disease, like cardiovascular disease and sleep disorders, but it can also affect quality of life.

It's important to start promoting a healthy lifestyle among children and their parents in an early stage. The use of effective communication and respect to the language used is very important. However, international studies have shown that professionals experience barriers in starting a conversation about overweight and lifestyle. Examples of barriers may be fear of harm to the child, fear of parents' reactions and parents unmotivated to change. Knowledge regarding possible barriers and facilitators experienced specifically by Dutch healthcare professionals in talking about overweight is scarce.

National guidelines and the development of different visual tools (such as posters with pictures of healthy portion sizes and sugar amounts in beverages) are provided as facilitators in (visually) addressing lifestyle improvement by healthcare providers. However, they mainly focus on giving advice about creating a healthy lifestyle, rather than engaging in a conversation with children and parents about the current weight and lifestyle and exploring their views. In other words: these tools are developed to directly address the measures to be taken to change lifestyle, rather than discussing the status quo and exploring the underlying motivation. Within Centre for Overweight Adolescent and Children's Healthcare (COACH) at the Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC+) a tool was developed, based on motivational interviewing, to help professionals engage in conversation with children with overweight or obesity about weight and lifestyle.

The aim of this study is to identify barriers and facilitators perceived by healthcare professionals to start a conversation with a child about weight and lifestyle. In addition, this study researches the effects of the developed COACH Conversationstarter, a tool that can help healthcare professionals to start a conversation with children about overweight and lifestyle and to gain more insight in the views, thoughts and beliefs of the child and its family.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Anticipated)

Contacts and Locations

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

Study Contact

Name: Anita Vreugdenhil
Phone Number: 0031 43 3875284
Email: a.vreugdenhil@mumc.nl

Study Locations

Netherlands
- Limburg
  - Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands, 6202AZ
    - Recruiting
    - Maastricht University Medical Center
    - Principal Investigator:
      
      Anita Vreugdenhil, Dr.
    - Sub-Investigator:
      
      Kylie Karnebeek, Drs.
    - Contact:
      
      Anita Vreugdenhil, Dr.
      
      Phone Number: 0031 (0)43 387 5284
      
      Email: a.vreugdenhil@mumc.nl

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

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

Professionals working with children The studypopulation for this mixed-methods study is consisting of healthcareprofessionals working with children (with overweight or obesity), such as pediatric residents, paediatricians and youth health care professionals. Also other professionals working with children, not working in the field of healthcare, such as teachers can be included in the study population.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Legally capable participants
Professionals working with children
Working with children between 8 - 17 years.
To be willing to test the COACH Conversationstarter.

Exclusion Criteria:

Professionals only working with children <8 years

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

Observational Models: Other
Time Perspectives: Prospective

Number of groups / cohorts

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Professionals working with children The studypopulation for this mixed-methods study is consisting of healthcareprofessionals working with children (with overweight or obesity), such as pediatric residents, paediatricians and youth health care professionals. Also other professionals working with children, not working in the field of healthcare, such as teachers, can be included in the study population.	Other: Training COACH Conversationstarter After elaborating perceived barriers and facilitators via surveys and semi-structured focusgroups, a short training with the COACH Conversationstarter will be provided to a part of the participants. The COACH Conversationstarter will be provided to the participants attending the training, which they can use in the next couple of months. After a period of time all participants will be provided with a second questionnaire, and results of the group that received the COACH Conversationstarter will be compared with the group that didn't receive the COACH Conversationstarter. (A part of) the participants that used the COACH Conversationstarter will be interviewed about their experiences. However, the study will have an observational design, since the decision if a professional is attending the training is not based on the investigator / protocol, but depending on the professional, for example logistic reasons. This is part of routine education.

Group / Cohort

Intervention / Treatment

Professionals working with children

The studypopulation for this mixed-methods study is consisting of healthcareprofessionals working with children (with overweight or obesity), such as pediatric residents, paediatricians and youth health care professionals. Also other professionals working with children, not working in the field of healthcare, such as teachers, can be included in the study population.

Other: Training COACH Conversationstarter

After elaborating perceived barriers and facilitators via surveys and semi-structured focusgroups, a short training with the COACH Conversationstarter will be provided to a part of the participants. The COACH Conversationstarter will be provided to the participants attending the training, which they can use in the next couple of months. After a period of time all participants will be provided with a second questionnaire, and results of the group that received the COACH Conversationstarter will be compared with the group that didn't receive the COACH Conversationstarter. (A part of) the participants that used the COACH Conversationstarter will be interviewed about their experiences.

However, the study will have an observational design, since the decision if a professional is attending the training is not based on the investigator / protocol, but depending on the professional, for example logistic reasons. This is part of routine education.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Barriers Time Frame: January 2021	Barriers perceived by the professionals to start a conversation about weight and lifestyle with children with overweight or obesity. Within the questionnaire a first selection of barriers will be made, which will be further in-depth explored in focusgroupinterviews.	January 2021
Facilitators Time Frame: January 2021	Factors perceived as facilitator by the professionals to start a conversation about weight and lifestyle with children with overweight or obesity. Within the questionnaire a first selection of facilitators will be made, which will be further in-depth explored in focusgroupinterviews.	January 2021
Experiences with the COACH Conversationstarter Time Frame: January 2021	Experiences with the COACH Conversationstarter, regarding design, usabilty and content. Within the questionnaire a first selection of experiences will be made, which will be further in-depth explored in semi-structured interviews.	January 2021

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Level of participation Time Frame: January 2021	Percentage of time that each person (professional, parent(s) or child) is involved in a lifestyle-related conversation. Professionals can indicate the different percentages within the questionnaires.	January 2021
Conversation skills Time Frame: January 2021	Confidence and thoughts about the own conversation skills of the professionals, for example regarding motivational interviewing. Measured within the questionnaire on a Likert-scale.	January 2021

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Maastricht University Medical Center

Investigators

Principal Investigator: Anita Vreugdenhil, dr., Maastricht University Medical Center

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)

February 13, 2019

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

May 1, 2023

Study Completion (Anticipated)

May 1, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 1, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 16, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

May 21, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 11, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 10, 2021

Last Verified

November 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

2018-0931

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

Undecided

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

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.

Talking With Children About Weight and Lifestyle