Dismantling the U.S. Social Norm of the "Kids' Food" Archetype (REACH Project)

Dismantling the U.S. Social Norm of the "Kids' Food" Archetype That Includes Ultra-processed Foods Such as Chicken Nuggets and Fries in the Newark, NJ Community

This project is the first stage of a health promotion campaign to shift social norms about marketing and feeding children ultra-processed foods. Embedded within a longitudinal ethnographic study using photo-elicitation techniques, mothers of preschool-age children will be randomly assigned to arts-based or traditional education about ultra-processed food.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Environmental Exposure; Food Selection
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Conventional Ultra-processed Food Nutrition Education; Behavioral: Arts-based Ultra-processed Food Nutrition Education

Detailed Description

1. At baseline, describe how mothers of preschool-age children characterize food for children in their home and local environment and describe their knowledge of ultra-processed food.
2. To test different ways of providing nutrition education for increasing knowledge about children's nutrition and ultra-processed foods. Hypothesis: Both groups will correctly identify more ultra-processed foods post-education.
3. To learn in depth from mothers of preschool children about their perceptions of the food environmental culture (markets, advertising, health messaging, community norms, cultural norms, social norms) in Newark, NJ, through a series of focus group discussions about the mothers' photographs of the local food environment pre and post project.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 38
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New Jersey
    • Newark, New Jersey, United States, 07102
      • Leaguers Inc. Head Start

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• English-speaking
• African American or Black or bi-racial or multi-racial African American and Black mothers
• >18 years
• Female
• Legal guardian of a preschool-age child (3-5 years) participating in the Leaguers, Inc.

Head Start programming.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Spanish-speaking
• Other racial and ethnic groups
• Fathers

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
Active Comparator: Conventional Nutrition Education; Conventional nutrition education	Behavioral: Conventional Ultra-processed Food Nutrition Education; The participants will receive a conventional nutrition education session with slides, flyers/handouts, and a lecture with discussion.
Experimental: Arts-based Nutrition Education; Arts-based nutrition education video production	Behavioral: Arts-based Ultra-processed Food Nutrition Education; The participants will receive an arts-based nutrition education session with video, animation, music, and discussion.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Ultra-Processed Food Knowledge	Participants will classify pictures of foods as ultra-processed or whole foods (adapted from Sarmiento-Santos, cited below) and as healthy or unhealthy. on a Pre and post-ultra-processed food knowledge questionnaire. Both sets of questions are yes or no categorical questions.	60 minutes
Environmental assessment of ultra-processed food	Participant photographs of the local food environment. At two time points (pre and post educational intervention) participants will take photographs of the local food environment including grocery stores, restaurant menus, etc. The purpose of this is to learn from participants about how they perceive the local kids' food environment and if they observe differences after the intervention. Photo elicitation techniques will be used during a series of focus groups for participants to discuss the photographs they took. These data will be analyzed using a layered analysis of the photographs (appraisal, discussion with participant who took the photo, cross-photo comparison, and interpretation) pre and post educational intervention, and thematic analysis of the focus group transcripts.	6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Pamela Rothpletz-Puglia, EdD, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Sarmiento-Santos J, Souza MBN, Araujo LS, Pion JMV, Carvalho RA, Vanin FM. Consumers' Understanding of Ultra-Processed Foods. Foods. 2022 May 7;11(9):1359. doi: 10.3390/foods11091359.
• Andreassen P, Christensen MK, Moller JE. Focused ethnography as an approach in medical education research. Med Educ. 2020 Apr;54(4):296-302. doi: 10.1111/medu.14045. Epub 2020 Feb 16.
• Braun V, Clarke V. What can "thematic analysis" offer health and wellbeing researchers? Int J Qual Stud Health Well-being. 2014 Oct 16;9:26152. doi: 10.3402/qhw.v9.26152. eCollection 2014. No abstract available.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 21, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 1, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): July 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 5, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 12, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): February 20, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 24, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 21, 2025
• Last Verified: April 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: Pro2023002473

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