Promoting healthy body image and eating patterns in young children: Helping parents create positive environments.

• Register: ANZCTR
• Last refreshed on: 13 January 2020
• Main ID: ACTRN12615000354583
• Date of registration: 20/04/2015
• Prospective Registration: No
• Primary sponsor: La Trobe University
• Public title: Promoting healthy body image and eating patterns in young children: Helping parents create positive environments.
• Scientific title: For parents of young children, will a new parenting resource, compared with standard nutrition information or delayed intervention, improve the family environment and reduce risk of child body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and overweight.
• Date of first enrolment: 26/06/2013
• Target sample size: 320
• Recruitment status: Active, not recruiting
• URL: https://anzctr.org.au/ACTRN12615000354583.aspx
• Study type: Interventional
• Study design: Purpose: Prevention; Allocation: Randomised controlled trial; Masking: Open (masking not used);Assignment: Parallel;Type of endpoint: Efficacy;
• Phase: Not Applicable

Countries of recruitment

Australia

Contacts

• Name: Prof Susan J Paxton

• Name: Prof Susan J Paxton

Key inclusion & exclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: Participants will include parents of children aged between 2 to 6 years, who live in Victoria, Australia, are 18 years or over, and have a good understanding of written and spoken English.
Exclusion criteria: Participants will be excluded if they are not a parent of child between 2 and 6 years, live outside of Victoria, Australia, are under the age of 18 years, and do not have a good understanding of written and spoken English.

Age minimum: 18 Years
Age maximum: No limit
Gender: Both males and females

Health Condition(s) or Problem(s) studied

Diet and Nutrition - Other diet and nutrition disorders

Mental Health - Eating disorders

children's body image;children's eating patterns;child overweight;
children's body image
children's eating patterns
child overweight

Mental Health - Other mental health disorders

Intervention(s)

The evaluation will be conducted as a randomised controlled trial (RCT), whereby parents will be randomly allocated to one of four groups: Group A, B, C or D.
Arm 1:
For Group A, parents will receive a copy of the CBCC resource and attend a 2hr, manualised, group information session hosted by the research team and facilitated by trained personnel.
Arm 2:
For Group B, parents will be mailed a copy of the CBCC resource. They will not be required to attend an information session. The resource includes the A5 70 page Parent Booklet, The Extended Family Booklet, the CBCC website (confidentbody.net), a Do/Don'ts quick reference poster and a children's storybook called "Shapesville". The CBCC resources are evidence-based and design to promote parenting strategies that are protective against, and reduce parenting strategies that are risk factors for, the development of disordered eating, body dissatisfaction and overweight in children.
Arm 3:
For Group C, parents will be mailed a copy of a standard nutrition information resource 'Happy Healthy Kids for Life'. It is a 23-page A5 booklet for parents developed by dieticians at a community health centre in Melbourne, Australia, and is based on the Australian Dietary Guidelines. It contains information about the nutritional components of child healthy eating and some guidance on parental feeding practices, such as avoiding using food as a reward (instrumental feeding). It does not contain any information about child body image, or how teaching children about healthy eating may impact on the development of body satisfaction.
Arm 4:
For Group D, parents will only be asked to complete questionnaires.

All participants will complete questionnaires at baseline and at three follow-up time points (6 weeks

Primary Outcome(s)

Positive parental behaviours in relation to promoting healthy body image and eating patterns for children, as assessed by the Parenting Strategies Scale derived for this study.[Baseline, and at 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months after baseline.]

Secondary Outcome(s)

Parental body image, assessed by the Weight and Shape Concern scale of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire and the Feeling Fat Scale of the Body Attitudes Questionnaire.[Baseline, and 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months after baseline.]

Parental Feeding Practices, measured by a compilation of standardised child feeding questionnaires.[Baseline, and 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months after baseline.]

Children's media viewing, assessed for appearance focused content (children's top 3 favourite TV shows, Computer games and DVDs are listed by parents. These programs and media are then rated for body image/appearance focused content using adapted criteria from Herbozo et al, 2004). [Baseline, and 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months after baseline.]

Stigmatising parenting behaviours that may increase the risk of body dissatisfaction and eating problems, as assessed by the Parenting Strategies Scale.[Baseline, and 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months after baseline.]

Family meal environment, as assessed by an adaptation of the Family Eating Attitude and Behavior Scale.[Baseline, and 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months after baseline.]

Parental internalization of societal body ideals, assessed by the General and Athlete Internalization scales of the Socio-cultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire.[Baseline, and 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months after baseline.]

Parental dieting behaviour, assessed by the Restraint scale of the Dutch Eating Behaviors Questionnaire.[Baseline, and 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months after baseline.]

Parental knowledge of parenting strategies to promote healthy body image and eating patterns in young children, measured by a Knowledge Test.[Baseline, and 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months after baseline.]

Secondary ID(s)

Nil known

Source(s) of Monetary Support

Cages Foundation

Secondary Sponsor(s)

CAGES Foundation

Ethics review

Status: Approved
Approval date:
Contact:

La Trobe University Human Ethics Committee