Healthy Eating for Successful Living in Older Adults Program (HE) Study (HES)

Healthy Eating for Successful Living in Older Adults™ Community Education Program

The Healthy Eating for Successful Living in Older Adults™ (HESL) is a six-week community nutrition and lifestyle education program designed specifically for the elderly (>60 years), to promote dietary and behavioral changes towards a healthy lifestyle. The intervention was evaluated using a randomized-controlled trial.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Chronic Diseases, Multiple
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Intervention Group

Detailed Description

The elderly are at a higher risk of various chronic diseases. The burden of various chronic diseases such as heart disease and osteoporosis can be reduced with change in dietary and other lifestyle behaviors. The Healthy Eating for Successful Living in Older Adults™ (HESL) provides elderly with needed knowledge on healthy food choices and lifestyle behaviors, and tools that support behavioral changes. The investigators aimed to evaluate this intervention program by determining, among others, the impact of the intervention on factors such as dietary intake of fiber, and other nutrients, as well as healthy behaviors and food choices, and quality of life at 6 months post-intervention, using a randomized-controlled trial. The intervention group was compared to the control group receiving no intervention to evaluate the effects of the six-week HESL intervention on our outcome measures of interest.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 292
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Massachusetts
    • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02131
      • Health and Healing Research Education and Service, Inc.

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 60 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• willingness to participate and complete all study activities following randomization into the intervention or control group.
• English-speaking.
• interested and able to participate.

Exclusion Criteria:

• None

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control group; The control group did not receive any intervention, but met at three timepoints to complete study questionnaires and provide anthropometric measurements,
Experimental: Intervention Group; This group received the study intervention protocol.	Behavioral: Intervention Group; Intervention group participants met once a week, for 2.5 hours, over a period of six weeks for the HES workshops. The HES workshops followed a scripted curriculum that incorporated information from the USDA's MyPlateTM, and the USDA 2015-2020 dietary guidelines. Participants were also taught goal-setting, problem-solving through brainstorming, group support, self-assessment and management of dietary and physical activity patterns.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from baseline dietary fiber intake at 6 months	Change from baseline dietary fiber intake (mean intake in g/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ	6 months post-intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from baseline saturated fat intake at 6 months	Change from baseline dietary saturated fat intake (mean intake in g/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline polyunsaturated fat intake at 6 months	Change from baseline dietary polyunsaturated fat intake (mean intake in g/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline monounsaturated fat intake at 6 months	Change from baseline dietary monounsaturated fat intake (mean intake in g/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ.	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline trans fat intake at 6 months	Change from baseline dietary trans fat intake (mean intake in g/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline cholesterol intake at 6 months	Change from baseline dietary cholesterol intake (mean intake in mg/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline omega-3 fat intake at 6 months	Change from baseline dietary omega-3 fat intake (mean intake in g/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline omega-6 fat intake at 6 months	Change from baseline dietary omega-6 fat intake (mean intake in g/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline calcium intake at 6 months	Change from baseline dietary calcium intake (mean intake in mg/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline vitamin D intake at 6 months	Change from baseline dietary vitamin D intake (mean intake in IU/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline folate intake at 6 months	Change from baseline folate intake (mean intake in mcg/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline potassium intake at 6 months	Change from baseline potassium intake (mean intake in mg/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline magnesium intake at 6 months	Change from baseline magnesium intake (mean intake in mg/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline vitamin B6 intake at 6 months	Change from baseline vitamin B6 intake (mean intake in mg/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline vitamin B12 intake at 6 months	Change from baseline vitamin B12 intake (mean intake in mcg/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline fruit intake at 6 months	Change from baseline fruit intake (mean intake in g/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline vegetable intake at 6 months	Change from baseline vegetable intake (mean intake in g/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline legume intake at 6 months	Change from baseline legume intake (mean intake in g/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline whole grain intake at 6 months	Change from baseline whole grain intake (mean intake in g/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline nut and seed intake at 6 months	Change from baseline nut and seed intake (mean intake in g/day) at 6 months using the Willett FFQ	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline physical activity at 6 months	Change from baseline physical activity (metabolic equivalent task (MET)-hours per week ) at 6 months using the Harvard Physical Activity Questionnaire.	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline Body mass index at 6 months (BMI, Kg/m2)	Change from baseline Body mass index (calculated from: weight in kilograms, and height in meters; weight and height will be combined to report BMI, Kg/m2) at 6 months	6 months post-intervention
Change from baseline quality of life measure at 6 months	Change from baseline quality of life measure at 6 months using the Euro-QoL-5D-5L questionnaire; Participants were asked to provide a rating of their own health on a scale of 0-100, where 0 means "death" and 100 means "the best health.	6 months post-intervention
Change in response to the question: "do you make food choices that are healthy for your bones?" from baseline at 6 months	Change in response (in percentage points) to the above question at 6 months; questions were originally in a Likert scale from always to never with five categories. We converted responses into dummy variables (with 1=always, most of the time, or sometimes; and 0 =rarely and never).	6 months post-intervention
Change in response to the question: "do you make food choices that are healthy for your heart?" from baseline at 6 months	Change in response (in percentage points) to the above question at 6 months; questions were originally in a Likert scale from always to never with five categories. We converted responses into dummy variables (with 1=always, most of the time, or sometimes; and 0 =rarely and never).	6 months post-intervention
Change in response to the question: "do you read nutrition labels when shopping or planning for meals?" from baseline at 6 months	Change in response (in percentage points) to the above question at 6 months; questions were originally in a Likert scale from always to never with five categories. We converted responses into dummy variables (with 1=always, most of the time, or sometimes; and 0 =rarely and never).	6 months post-intervention
Change in response to the question:"do you use MyPlateTM tools to help make food choices?" from baseline at 6 months	Change in response (in percentage points) to the above question at 6 months; questions were originally in a Likert scale from always to never with five categories. We converted responses into dummy variables (with 1=always, most of the time, or sometimes; and 0 =rarely and never).	6 months post-intervention
Change in response to the question: "How confident are you that you can manage most of your health problems?" from baseline at 6 months	Change in response (in percentage points) to the above question at 6 months; questions were originally on a scale of 0-10, with 10 being most confident. These ratings were coded as 1 if they were 6 and above, and 0 if 5 or below.	6 months post-intervention
Change in response to the question: "How understandable and useful is the information that your doctor or nurses have given you about your health problems or concerns?" from baseline at 6 months	Change in response (in percentage points) to the above question at 6 months; questions were originally on a scale of 0-10, with 10 being most understandable/useful. These ratings were coded as 1 if they were 6 and above, and 0 if 5 or below.	6 months post-intervention
Change in response to the sentence: "I play an active role in my health care and well-being."	Change in response (in percentage points) to the above question at 6 months; questions were originally on a scale of 0-10, with 10 being most active. These ratings were coded as 1 if they were 6 and above, and 0 if 5 or below.	6 months post-intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Health and Healing Research Education and Service, Inc.
• Collaborators: Georgetown University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Junaidah Barnett, PhD, MCH(N), Health and Healing Research Education and Service, Inc.

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Barnett JB, Zeng W. Healthy Eating for Successful Living in Older Adults community education program-evaluation of lifestyle behaviors: A randomized controlled trial. Front Aging. 2022 Sep 6;3:960986. doi: 10.3389/fragi.2022.960986. eCollection 2022.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 26, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 31, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): January 31, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 2, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 27, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): August 5, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 5, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 27, 2021
• Last Verified: July 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Disease Attributes; Chronic Disease
• Other Study ID Numbers: 120180167

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: There is currently no such plans.

Drug and device information, study documents

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