Healthy Eating Education for Latinos

Culturally-tailored Healthy Eating Education Intervention for Latinos in Massachusetts

This intervention aims to evaluate the efficacy of a pilot educational intervention with deep-structure cultural tailoring for Latino ethnic groups on diet quality compared to general, surface-level healthy-eating messages.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Obesity; Blood Pressure; Diet, Healthy; Diet Habit; Psychological
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Culturally tailored healthy eating advice; Behavioral: Standard healthy eating advice

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 76
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Massachusetts
    • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02115
      • Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 25 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Aged 25-65 y/o
• Self-reported Hispanic/Latino heritage
• Able to understand and answer questions in Spanish or English
• Living in the Boston, MA metro area for the past 6 months and not planning to move in the next 6 months
• Has a cellphone with the capacity of receiving text messages and gives consent for the Study to text this number as part of the intervention

Exclusion Criteria:

• Younger than 25y or older than 65y
• Not Hispanic/Latino heritage
• Has condition or impairment that affects mental, cognitive, or memory abilities; such as Alzheimer's disease or stroke
• Has been diagnosed with cancer, diabetes (type 1 or 2), heart condition, major stomach condition (examples: coronary heart disease, heart attack, stroke or stroke, allergies, or severe diet restrictions)
• Does not understand Spanish or English
• Pregnant
• Under the care of an institution
• Living in another state outside of Massachusetts or planning to move in less than 6 months
• No cellphone with text capabilities (or cannot be used to receive texts from the Study)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention; Intervention group consisting of culturally-tailored healthy eating advice through daily text messages for 2 months (delivery phase). A reinforcement phase of 2-months will follow to repeat the text messages.	Behavioral: Culturally tailored healthy eating advice; Culturally-tailored education includes strategies for healthy eating, preferences for traditional healthy foods, recommendations for limiting unhealthy traditional foods, portion sizes, etc.
Active Comparator: Control; Control group consisting of general healthy eating advice through daily text messages for 2 months (delivery phase). A reinforcement phase of 2-months will follow to repeat the text messages.	Behavioral: Standard healthy eating advice; Standard healthy eating education includes strategies, foods, portions, and cooking and eating tips for general dietary recommendations

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Changes in diet quality score	Determine the change in score of short diet quality screener (range 18-54; from lowest to highest quality)	4 months
Changes in diet habits	Determine the change in the frequency of dietary behaviors (percent)	4 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Changes in diet satisfaction: diet satisfaction scale	Determine the change in the score of the Diet Satisfaction Questionnaire (DSat-45) (range 45-225; from lowest to highest satisfaction) and its summed seven subscales (ranges 5-40	4 months
Changes in attitude for eating: attitudes scale	Determine the change in the score of the attitudes scale (range 0-20; with positive and negative subscales for more attitudes towards healthy eating)	4 months
Changes in reasons for eating: reasons scale	Determine the change in the score of the reasons scale (range 0-15; fewer to more reasons to eat healthy)	4 months

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in levels of adipose risk factor	Estimate the change in the value of waist circumference (cm)	4 months
Change in levels of blood pressure risk factors	Estimate the change in the value of systolic and diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)	4 months
Changes in depression score: CESD	Determine the change in score of depressive symptom screener (range 0-54; from lowest to highest symptoms)	4 months
Changes in dysfunctional eating behaviors	Determine the change in score of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (range 0-4; from lowest to highest dysfunctional eating and the three subscales of emotional, uncontrolled and restrictive eating behaviors)	4 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH)

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 29, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 22, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): September 22, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 22, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 22, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): January 26, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 26, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 24, 2023
• Last Verified: October 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: IRB13-1332

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: IPD will be managed and distributed observing NIH and IRB policies on the dissemination and sharing of research results. Study information and requests for data will be available immediately upon the data being de-identified and properly revised for quality control by contacting study investigators.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: 1 year
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: The requested data will be shared with investigators via a secured, password-protected software website, upon request.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

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