Enhancing BodyWorks: A Canine Health Literacy Module (BW)

A Health-literacy Module for Overweight Adolescents and Their Parents on Canine Physical Activity, Nutrition and Behavior: Enhancing Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) BodyWorks Program at a Federally Qualified Health Center

Dog ownership can serve as a vehicle for large-scale multi-level public health interventions, especially for pediatric overweight and obesity, due to dogs' unique place in children and adolescents' social networks.This study develops and tests a novel approach to design a Canine Health-Literacy module to enhance a Comprehensive Family Lifestyle Intervention BodyWorks, for dog-owning adolescents who have been diagnosed with overweight or obesity, and their parents. The results are anticipated to make an important step towards addressing the overweight and obesity epidemic among both people and companion dogs in the U.S.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Overweight and Obesity; Overweight Adolescents
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: BodyWorks Intervention; Behavioral: Canine Curriculum; Behavioral: Ecological Momentary Assessment; Behavioral: Physical Activity Trackers

Detailed Description

This project is a feasibility, acceptability, and pilot study that leverages the psychosocial benefits of informed and attached dog ownership among treatment-naïve overweight or obese adolescents. It is based upon a socioecological model of health behavior that pursues multiple levels of influence, including those extending across species lines such as physical activity. BodyWorks, a Comprehensive Behavioral Family Lifestyle Interventions (CBFLI), a national, empirically validated, curriculum-based 8-week program (orientation and 7 weeks of curriculum) will be offered at Children's Hospital Los Angeles AltaMed Division of General Pediatrics, a Federally Qualified Healthcare Center. The aims of the study are: Specific Aim 1: Using current empirical evidence in veterinary medicine, to develop a Canine Health Literacy module (CHL) to be delivered as part of the existing, empirically tested BW curriculum to increase adolescents' health literacy about their dogs' physical activity needs, weight status, and nutrition. Specific Aim 2: Test the feasibility and acceptability of a concurrent approach using physical activity trackers and Ecological Momentary Assessment. 2(a): Test the feasibility and acceptability of objective measurement of physical activity using wireless fitness trackers for adolescents (FitBit Inspire), their parents (FitBit Inspire), and their dogs (FitBark); 2(b): Test the feasibility and acceptability of using mobile phones for Ecological Momentary Assessment of types and contexts of adolescent's physical activity with dogs. Specific Aim 3: To establish the size of the effect, and the variability associated with the 8 week-long BW + CHL module, as compared with the control group who received the standard BW program in 3(a) adolescents' positive affect during or after physical activity with the dog, as measured by the Ecological Momentary Assessment using prompts on mobile phones; and 3(b) levels of overall physical activity for the adolescents, their parents, and the dogs as measured by the FitBit Ace (adolescents), FitBit Flex2 (parents), and FitBark (dogs). The project will establish feasibility, acceptability, attrition, and protocol compliance, and will collect pilot data needed for power calculations in preparation for an R01 Randomized Controlled Trial as a next step to test the effectiveness of our enhanced BW+CHL program. This project represents a significant methodological and theoretical advancement in the field of Human-Animal Interaction (HAI) and in research on overweight and obesity.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 202
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90057
      • AltaMed@CHLA

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 9 years to 17 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Overweight/obese youth ages 9-17 years and their caregivers
• Own dog

Exclusion Criteria:

• Normal BMI
• Do not own dog

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention; Half of the BodyWorks families will be randomized to the intervention group, and will receive a PAT for the children, the parents, and the dogs at the beginning of the cycle; the children will respond to EMA surveys using a cell phone; the children and the parents will receive the Canine health literacy module in addition to the BW curriculum.	Behavioral: BodyWorks Intervention; BodyWorks (BW), a Comprehensive Behavioral Family Lifestyle Interventions (CBFLI), a national, empirically validated, curriculum-based 7-week program will be implemented (Borden et al., 2012; DHHS, 2013); Behavioral: Canine Curriculum; Using our team's expertise in veterinary medicine, human-animal interaction, and animal behavior modification, develop an empirically-based, 7-week module on canine health and behavior.; Behavioral: Ecological Momentary Assessment; Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMA) of physical activity will be conducted using mobile phones for 7 weeks of the BW program, prospectively collecting data on 4 days per week (Saturday to Tuesday) (Dunton et al., 2011; Liao et al., 2016).; Behavioral: Physical Activity Trackers; Three types of consumer-grade wireless personal activity trackers (PATs): FitBit Inspire® designed for children 8 years of age and older; FitBit Inspire® for adults (Diaz et al., 2015; Espinoza et al., 2017); and FitBark®, wireless, global positioning systems (GPS)-based personal activity trackers for dogs (Patel et al., 2017). This approach will allow us to evaluate quantity (number of steps) and intensity of physical activity in the adolescents, their parents, and their dogs, as well as to synchronize Fitbit Ace and FitBark to establish the amount of shared physical activity of adolescents and their dogs.
Active Comparator: Control; Half of the BodyWorks participants will be randomized to the control group and will receive a PAT at the beginning of the cycle for the children, the parents, and the dogs, and the children will respond to EMA surveys using cell phones.	Behavioral: BodyWorks Intervention; BodyWorks (BW), a Comprehensive Behavioral Family Lifestyle Interventions (CBFLI), a national, empirically validated, curriculum-based 7-week program will be implemented (Borden et al., 2012; DHHS, 2013); Behavioral: Ecological Momentary Assessment; Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMA) of physical activity will be conducted using mobile phones for 7 weeks of the BW program, prospectively collecting data on 4 days per week (Saturday to Tuesday) (Dunton et al., 2011; Liao et al., 2016).; Behavioral: Physical Activity Trackers; Three types of consumer-grade wireless personal activity trackers (PATs): FitBit Inspire® designed for children 8 years of age and older; FitBit Inspire® for adults (Diaz et al., 2015; Espinoza et al., 2017); and FitBark®, wireless, global positioning systems (GPS)-based personal activity trackers for dogs (Patel et al., 2017). This approach will allow us to evaluate quantity (number of steps) and intensity of physical activity in the adolescents, their parents, and their dogs, as well as to synchronize Fitbit Ace and FitBark to establish the amount of shared physical activity of adolescents and their dogs.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Mean Physical Activity Associated With the BodyWorks + Canine Health Literacy Intervention for Parents and Adolescents	Determine the mean of the average of the first 7 days (with valid data >100 steps) and the last 7 days of the intervention for intervention and control groups as measured by the physical activity trackers.	Baseline to 7 weeks
Change From Baseline for Adolescent Affect Variability Associated With the BodyWorks + Canine Health Literacy Intervention.	Determining the mean difference between the groups in the positive and negative affect ecological momentary assessment outcomes.	Baseline to 7 weeks
Mean Number of Questions Answered for Adolescent Feasibility of Ecological Momentary Assessment	Feasibility will be determined by data completeness: Percentage of survey questions answered out of 13 possible questions.	Baseline to week 7
Number of Adolescents That Responded to Physical Acceptability of Ecological Momentary Assessment	Acceptability will be measured by EMA prompt on physical activity with dog.	Week 7 of intervention
Number of Parents and Adolescents Feasibility of Use of Physical Activity Trackers.	Feasibility will be determined by data completeness: Number of adolescents and parents with meaningful data (greater than 100 steps >=7 days) out of participants with fitbit data.	Baseline to 7 weeks
Mean Score of Parents and Adolescents Acceptability of Use of Physical Activity Trackers Using Likert Scale.	Acceptability will be measured by response rate on user satisfaction survey. Likert Scale -2 (strongly disagree) to 2 (strongly agree). Higher values represent higher satisfaction.	Week 7 of intervention
Mean Physical Activity for Parent and Adolescent Out of Participants With Fitbit Data.	Number of steps per day	Baseline to 7 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Body Mass Index From Baseline for Adolescent	Weight and height will be used to calculate BMI in kg/m^2	Baseline to 7 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Children's Hospital Los Angeles
• Collaborators: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD); University of Southern California; Tufts Medical Center
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Larry Yin, MD, MSPH, Children's Hospital Los Angeles

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 27, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 13, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): January 13, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 31, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 13, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): August 18, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 1, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 5, 2026
• Last Verified: June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Obesity; Overweight; children; adolescents; telehealth; comprehensive family lifestyle intervention program; BodyWorks; Human Animal Interaction
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Nutrition Disorders; Overnutrition; Body Weight; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Behavior; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases; Signs and Symptoms; Overweight; Obesity; Human-Animal Interaction; Equipment and Supplies; Behavioral Disciplines and Activities; Psychological Tests; Electrical Equipment and Supplies; Diagnostic Equipment; Wearable Electronic Devices; Fitness Trackers; Ecological Momentary Assessment
• Other Study ID Numbers: CHLA-CG-19-00001; R21HD097761 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

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
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No