Effectiveness of a Pre-adolescent Inter-generational Intervention to Address HIV and Obesity

Addressing the Double Burden of Diseases Through a Pre-adolescent Transdisciplinary Intervention for Inter-generational Outcomes

The study evaluates an intervention, The CIrCLE of Life Initiative, which was developed to address HIV and obesity prevention. We evaluated whether the combined HIV and obesity intervention increased knowledge, enhanced skills, and/or promoted healthy behaviour among pre-adolescent students (9-12 years old) and their parents.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Obesity; Hiv
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: The CIrCLE of Life Initiative

Detailed Description

The CIrCLE of Life Initiative had both a school and home component, each comprising a learning curriculum, environmental support, and activity-based constituents that aimed to increase student knowledge and skills, and to engage parents. Trained educators delivered lessons about HIV and obesity to all Grade 6 students at 5 government-run schools. The classroom curriculum for students required delivery of a five-hour face-to-face intervention delivered weekly through 10 30-minute lessons. Students were asked to communicate their learnings to their parents at home. Parents were requested to read through the lesson in a workbook and to sign acknowledgement that they had read the content. The workbook contained shared student-parent homework activities that took approximately 30 minutes per week.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 852

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• South Africa
  • Gauteng
    • Westonaria, Gauteng, South Africa, 1779
      • Kamogelo Primary school
    • Westonaria, Gauteng, South Africa, 1779
      • Westonaria primary school
    • Westonaria, Gauteng, South Africa, 1780
      • Westonaria primary mine school
    • Westonaria, Gauteng, South Africa, 1787
      • Zuurbekom Primary School
    • Westonaria, Gauteng, South Africa, 5670
      • Izanokhanyo Primary school

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 9 years to 14 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: N/A
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

All Grade 6 learners and their parents from 5 government-run primary schools

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

-

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention; 537 pre-adolescent grade 6 learners and their parent (n=537) were invited to participate. Trained educators delivered lessons about HIV and obesity to all Grade 6 students at 5 government-run schools. The classroom curriculum for students required delivery of a five-hour face-to-face intervention delivered weekly through 10 30-minute lessons. Students were asked to communicate their learnings to their parents at home. Parents were requested to read through the lesson in a workbook and to sign acknowledgement that they had read the content. The workbook contained shared student-parent homework activities that took approximately 30 minutes per week. Data was only collected from Learners (n=425) and parents (n= 427)who had consented to the study. A pretest was conducted. The intervention was then implemented. A posttest was conducted afterwards. Both parents and learners answered self-reported questionnaires.

Behavioral: The CIrCLE of Life Initiative; HIV and obesity prevention programme delivered directly to Grade 6 preadolescents and indirectly to their parents.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, attitude, behaviour, practices and skills	The primary outcome was the effects and differences between the student, pretest and posttest, and the parent, pretest and posttest.	3 months
obesity-related awareness, attitude and skills	The primary outcome was the effects and differences between the student, pretest and posttest, and the parent, pretest and posttest.	3 months
nutrition-related awareness, attitude, behaviour and skills	The primary outcome was the effects and differences between the student, pretest and posttest, and the parent, pretest and posttest.	3 months
physical activity-related awareness, attitude, behaviour and skills	The primary outcome was the effects and differences between the student, pretest and posttest, and the parent, pretest and posttest.	3 months
child-parent communication	The primary outcome was the effects and differences between the student, pretest and posttest, and the parent, pretest and posttest.	3 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
pre-adolescent parent inter-generational knowledge transfer	The second outcome determined whether the intervention, delivered to students, could influence knowledge transfer and translation in parents.	3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
• Collaborators: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Fogarty Clinical Research Inc.
• Investigators: Study Director: Gill Nelson, PHD, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; Study Director: Nicola Christofides, PHD, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Arthur K, Christofides N, Nelson G. Effectiveness of a pre-adolescent inter-generational intervention to address HIV and obesity in South Africa, using a pretest-posttest design. BMC Public Health. 2021 Dec 11;21(1):2251. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-12228-z.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 1, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 30, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): June 30, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 11, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 11, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): March 13, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 13, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 11, 2020
• Last Verified: March 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: inter-generational outcomes; Pre-adolescents
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Overnutrition; Nutrition Disorders; Overweight; Body Weight; Obesity
• Other Study ID Numbers: UWitwatersrand

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: De-identified individual participant data for all primary and secondary outcome measures will be made available.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Data has already been made available.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

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