Development and Evaluation of the T.E.A.C.H. Study: A Randomized Control Trial

Using a randomized control design, this study seeks to develop and evaluate a nutrition intervention to increase Montessori teachers' nutrition knowledge, nutrition self-efficacy, nutrition teaching self-efficacy and cultural food competence to improve teachers' eating behaviors, nutrition teaching practices, classroom food practices, and teacher-parent communication. This study will examine the feasibility and efficacy of a nutrition intervention for teachers which will include a nutrition education program via an online platform and hands-on Montessori-based curriculum to teach nutrition in the classroom. Teachers from multiple schools will be recruited using the public national Montessori listserv. This study will enhance teachers' nutrition knowledge which may increase their nutrition teaching practices and improve their personal nutrition habits. Improving teachers' personal and classroom nutrition practices may improve teachers' personal health outcomes and may positively impact their students through modeling of healthy behaviors and improving the classroom food environment.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Child Obesity
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: The Teacher Education and Classroom Habits (T.E.A.C.H.) Program

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 95
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Florida
    • Miami, Florida, United States, 33330
      • Florida International University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Teachers were considered eligible to participate in the study if they taught in early childhood classrooms (students 3 to 6 years old), were ≥ 18 years old, and had access to an electronic device with internet connection and audiovisual capabilities.

Exclusion Criteria:

Teachers were deemed ineligible to participate if they were not fluent in English (written & verbal) or had plans to leave their place of employment during the study timeframe

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
Experimental: Intervention; Participants in this arm received the 6-week online T.E.A.C.H. program.	Behavioral: The Teacher Education and Classroom Habits (T.E.A.C.H.) Program; The T.E.A.C.H. Program utilized essential constructs of the Social Cognitive Theory to deliver virtual nutrition education to Montessori teachers over a 6-week period. The intervention consisted of four program components: 1. An interactive online nutrition education platform with 6 modules was developed using a WordPress website. Each module contained 5 topics including adult nutrition, child nutrition, classroom food practices, cultural practices, and teacher-parent communication. Teachers were provided login information via email containing a unique identifier to be used as their username and were prompted to complete one module per week for 6 weeks; 2. Live weekly virtual education sessions were held via Zoom to supplement and reinforce the online learning experience; 3. A Montessori-based nutrition curriculum with 6 weekly lessons to utilize in the classroom was provided to each participant; 4. Educational handouts to be disseminated to parents.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from Baseline in the mean Nutrition Knowledge at 12 week follow-up	Teachers' nutrition knowledge was measured using subscales 1 and 2 from the revised General Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire (GNKQ-R).	From enrollment to the end of the 12 week follow-up.
Change from Baseline in the mean Nutrition Self-efficacy at 12 week follow-up	Nutrition self-efficacy was determined using the Dewar's Nutrition Self-Efficacy Scale.	From enrollment to the end of the 12 week follow-up.
Change from Baseline in the mean Nutrition teaching self-efficacy at 12 week follow-up	Nutrition teaching self-efficacy was determined using the Nutrition Teaching Self-Efficacy Scale.	From enrollment to the end of the 12 week follow-up.
Change from Baseline in the mean cultural competence at 12 week follow-up	The Multicultural Teaching Competency Scale Teachers' was utilized to measure teachers' cultural competence.	From enrollment to the end of the 12 week follow-up.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from Baseline in the mean classroom eating behaviors at 12 week follow-up	Teachers' eating behaviors were measured using the Teacher's Classroom Eating Behaviors tool	From enrollment to the end of the 12 week follow-up.
Change from Baseline in the mean classroom food practices at 12 week follow-up	Classroom food practices were determined using Classroom Food-Related Practices-to-Limit Scale.	From enrollment to the end of the 12 week follow-up.
Change from Baseline in the mean nutrition teaching practices at 12 week follow-up	Subscale 2 of the Nutrition Education Practices (NEP) Survey for Teachers and Foodservice Directors was utilized to measure nutrition teaching practices.	From enrollment to the end of the 12 week follow-up.
Change from Baseline in the mean teacher-parent nutrition communication at 12 week follow-up	Teachers' communication with parents was measured using subscale 2 of the Teacher-Parent Contact Scale.	From enrollment to the end of the 12 week follow-up.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Florida International University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 6, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 30, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): July 30, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 8, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 8, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): April 15, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 15, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 8, 2025
• Last Verified: April 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Obesity Prevention; Randomized control trial; Nutrition education; Teacher intervention; Montessori schools
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Nutrition Disorders; Overnutrition; Body Weight; Overweight; Obesity; Pediatric Obesity
• Other Study ID Numbers: IRB-22-0373

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