Tundra Gifts: Harvesting Local And Regional Resources To Prevent Obesity Among Alaska Native Children In Remote, Underserved Communities

The long-term goal of this community based participatory research project is to prevent obesity in 3-5 year old Alaska Native children in remote communities.

Investigators will design and evaluate a culturally responsive, home-focused intervention, Tundra Gifts, that links early childhood education programming (i.e. Head Start) and federal food assistance programs (i.e. WIC and SNAP) with primary caregivers to support healthy eating and an active lifestyle using a cluster-randomized design. The intervention integrates behavior change theory with Indigenous traditional knowledge. Primary caregivers will attend monthly interactive education session, receive a monthly gift basket that includes resources and supplies to support behavior change at home and receive ongoing social support through a Facebook site. Investigators will also evaluate key process indicators of Tundra Gifts to understand the impact on outcomes of variations in persons and settings and to enhance the generalizability of findings.

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Childhood Obesity
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Tundra Gifts

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 500
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Andrea Bersamin, PhD; Phone Number: (907)474-6129; Email: abersamin@alaska.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 3 years to 5 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 3-5 year old children enrolled in Head Start and their primary caregiver in Yup'ik Alaska Native communities

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Comparison
Experimental: Tundra gifts program	Behavioral: Tundra Gifts; Tundra Gifts is a home-focused intervention delivered by community health workers (CHW) that focuses on promoting healthy eating and an active lifestyle among 3-5 year olds through family and community partnerships. Primary caregivers will attend monthly interactive education session, receive a monthly gift basket that includes resources and supplies to support behavior change at home and receive ongoing social support through a Facebook site.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in age- and sex-specific BMI percentiles and z-scores		twice annually for 3 years
Change in child intake of vegetables and fruit	24-hour recall in combination with a 2-day food record	twice annually for 3 years
Change in child intake of vegetables and fruit	Skin carotenoid meter using reflection spectroscopy (veggie-meter)	twice annually for 3 years
Change in child intake of sugar sweetened beverages	Hair biomarker of sugar using N and C stable isotope ratios	twice annually for 3 years
Change in child intake of sugar sweetened beverages	24-hour recall in combination with a 2-day food record	twice annually for 3 years
Change in child screen time	Screen time questionnaire	twice annually for 3 years
Change in child physical activity	Physical activity questionnaire	twice annually for 3 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in adult attitudes and beliefs around healthy eating and active lifestyle	Attitudes and beliefs questionnaire	twice annually for 3 years
Change in adult BMI		twice annually for 3 years
Change in adult intake of vegetables and fruit	skin carotenoid meter using reflection spectroscopy (veggie-meter)	twice annually for 3 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Alaska Fairbanks
• Collaborators: Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation; Grand Valley State University; Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium; University of Alaska Anchorage; State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Anticipated): September 1, 2019
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): May 30, 2022
• Study Completion (Anticipated): May 30, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 2, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 12, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): June 14, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 14, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 12, 2019
• Last Verified: June 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Alaska Native; Healthy Eating; Traditional Foods
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Overnutrition; Nutrition Disorders; Overweight; Body Weight; Obesity; Pediatric Obesity
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2018-69001-27544

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No