Participation in structured programming may prevent unhealthy weight gain during the summer in school-aged children from low-income neighbourhoods: feasibility, fidelity and preliminary efficacy findings from the Camp NERF study

Hopkins, Laura; Holloman, Christopher; Melnyk, Bernadette Mazurek; Fristad, Mary A.; Goodway, Jacqueline D.; Kennel, Julie; Eneli, Ihuoma; Gunther, Carolyn

doi:10.1017/s1368980018003403

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Despite the BGC providing transportation to / from camp each day, however, CAMP attendance averaged 50% across the two summers. While lower than expected, attendance was similar to that observed in Camp NERF, an 8-week, multicomponent camp offered with the SFSP, in which participants attended 56.8% of offered sessions [41]. Moreover, CAMP attendance was related to change in BMIz over the summer and trended higher among children whose primary caregiver was employed full-time.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Testing the effect of summer camp on excess summer weight gain in youth from low-income households: a randomized controlled trial

Evans¹,

Wing²,

Pierre³

et al. 2020

BMC Public Health

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Background Children from racial and ethnic minority groups, low-income households, and those with overweight or obesity gain more weight during the summer than the school year. Summer day camps, which offer routine opportunities for physical activity and regular meal and snack times, have potential to mitigate excess weight gain. This randomized controlled trial was done to determine the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of summer camp in preventing excess summer weight gain among youth from low-income households. Methods Children, ages 6 to 12 years, were randomized to attend 8-weeks of summer day camp (CAMP) or to experience an unstructured summer as usual (SAU) in 2017–2018. Primary feasibility outcomes included retention, engagement and completion of midsummer measures. Secondary outcomes included changes in BMIz, engagement in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behavior, and diet quality and energy intake from the school year to summer. Multivariable linear mixed models were used to assess group differences. Results Ninety-four participants were randomized to CAMP (n = 46) or SAU (n = 48), of whom 93.0 and 91.6% completed end of school and end of summer assessments, respectively. While CAMP participants attended only 50% of camp days offered, on average, they lost − 0.03 BMIz units while those in SAU gained 0.07 BMIz units over the summer (b = 0.10; p = .02). Group differences in change in energy intake from the school year to summer were borderline significant, as energy intake remained relatively unchanged in CAMP participants but increased among participants in SAU (p = 0.07). Conclusions Randomizing children to attend summer day camp or experience an unstructured summer as usual was effective in this low-income sample. Our findings support the potential for summer camps in mitigating excess summer weight gain. A larger randomized trial is needed explore efficacy, cost-effectiveness and longer-term effects of attending summer camp on weight and weight-related behaviors. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Registration: NCT04085965 (09/2019, retrospective registration).

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Testing the effect of summer camp on excess summer weight gain in youth from low-income households: a randomized controlled trial

Evans¹,

Wing²,

Pierre³

et al. 2020

BMC Public Health

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“…In fact, it has been argued that there may be underlying chronobiological reasons supporting establishment of consistent sleep, eating, and activity behaviors in summer months as a means of buffering against observed weight gain (see Moreno et al, 2019, for review). However, interventions designed to provide access to summer camps (e.g., a means of enhancing structure and/or alignment of sleep and eating behaviors with circadian rhythms) found mixed benefits for weight regulation (Evans, Fernandes, Howie, Wing, & Jelalian, 2018; Hopkins et al, 2019). Beyond out-of-school time, there has been increased recognition that the timing of school itself may have important implications for pediatric health.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral and social routines and biological rhythms in prevention and treatment of pediatric obesity.

Hart¹,

Jelalian²,

Raynor³

2020

American Psychologist

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A growing body of research supports the potential importance of behavioral and social routines for children's health promotion and obesity risk reduction. Evidence in support of this comes from multiple lines of research, which suggest that specific behavioral routines, namely eating and sleep routines, may be protective against excessive weight gain and development of pediatric obesity. From a circadian perspective, alignment of behavioral and social routines with underlying circadian rhythms may be particularly important for enhancing children's weight regulation. Engaging in appropriately timed behavioral and social routines may serve to entrain circadian rhythms that affect metabolism and weight regulation. Thus, in addition to promoting healthier eating, activity, and sleep behaviors for prevention and treatment of pediatric obesity, it may also be important to consider promotion of consistency in and optimal timing of these behaviors in an effort to enhance extant prevention and treatment approaches.

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“…9 Studies have demonstrated the potential of summer camps for improving and/or maintaining health weight over the summer. 12,13 Weaver et al 9 also suggests that a major limitation to summer camps is the fact that they are fee for service, which may limit the accessibility of this type of programming for many children from low-income households. Brusseau and Burns 7 went on to theorize that yearround schooling might be a potential solution to protecting students from weight gain and fitness loss in the summer by eliminating the traditional 12-week summer break and replacing it with shorter breaks spread out across the academic calendar.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Year-Round and Traditional School Schedules on Summer Weight Gain and Fitness Loss

Brusseau

Burns

et al. 2019

Childhood Obesity

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Background: Summer weight gain and fitness loss has been identified as a public health concern for children. The objective of this study was to compare changes in weight status and cardiovascular fitness in children attending year-round and traditional calendar schools.Methods: Participants were 321 children from a traditional and year-round school. BMI and Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) Laps were collected during school. Multilevel general linear mixed-effects models were utilized to examine changes in BMI and PACER over the summer while also considering summer camp and sport participation.Results: Children had higher BMI z-scores during Fall 2018 compared with Spring 2018 (b = 0.09, p = 0.006). This effect was modified by Break Length, as students with 3-week (b = -0.09, p = 0.012) and 7-week breaks (b = -0.10, p = 0.003) displayed attenuated increases in BMI z-scores compared with 12-week breaks. For PACER Laps, students who participated in summer sports displayed improvements compared with nonparticipants (b = 4.6 laps, p = 0.001).Conclusions: Shorter summer breaks appear to have a protective effect on summer weight gain when compared with a traditional 12-week break. In addition, children who participated in organized sport over the summer did see a significant improvement in cardiovascular fitness. Schools might consider a year-round school calendar for its potential to protect against summer weight gain.

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Participation in structured programming may prevent unhealthy weight gain during the summer in school-aged children from low-income neighbourhoods: feasibility, fidelity and preliminary efficacy findings from the Camp NERF study

Cited by 13 publications

References 39 publications

Testing the effect of summer camp on excess summer weight gain in youth from low-income households: a randomized controlled trial

Testing the effect of summer camp on excess summer weight gain in youth from low-income households: a randomized controlled trial

Behavioral and social routines and biological rhythms in prevention and treatment of pediatric obesity.

Impact of Year-Round and Traditional School Schedules on Summer Weight Gain and Fitness Loss

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