Study Protocol of the Parents in Child Nutrition Informing Community (PICNIC) Peer Education Cohort Study to Improve Child Feeding and Dietary Intake of Children Aged Six Months to Three Years Old

Abstract

One in five Australian pre-schoolers are overweight or obese, meaning the first years of life are vital for obesity primary prevention. Parent child feeding practices impact on children's dietary intake, which in turn impacts on their weight status. Parents' child feeding beliefs are heavily influenced by parenting peers. The aim of this cohort study is to evaluate the impact of the Parents in Child Nutrition Informing Community (PICNIC) study on parents feeding practices and diet quality. The secondary outcomes are the perceptions of trained peer educators and education recipients based on their involvement in PICNIC. One hundred parents with a child aged 0-2 years at time of recruitment will participate in peer educator training, then disseminate nutrition and child feeding content to other parents over an intervention period of 12 months, supported by project-specific, evidence-based social media pages and website. An additional 100 new parents, recruited by peer educators, will participate in the study as nutrition education recipients. Both peer educators and education recipients will complete quantitative child feeding surveys before and during the 12 month intervention and a dietary intake survey at a time point 12 months post intervention. Following the intervention, 30 education recipients will be asked to participate in semi-structured phone interviews about their experiences with PICNIC. Peer educators will contribute as co-researchers and active participants in the evolution of the PICNIC model. This study will contribute to enhanced understanding of contemporary health literacy strategies for communicating nutrition and feeding messages to new parents and the impact of these strategies on parents feeding practices and children's dietary intake in a community setting.

Online reach and engagement of a child nutrition peer-education program (PICNIC): insights from social media and web analytics

“…The PICNIC project study protocol provides a detailed description of the intervention and research methods [ 15 ]. In brief, enrolled parents engage in an introductory two-hour workshop led by an Accredited Practising Dietitian, and are then provided with child nutrition and feeding information and support through online resources for at least a year (Fig.…”

“…The PICNIC Fb Page was first created in 2014 to be used in the pilot study [ 19 ]. Four years later, recruitment for the PICNIC study [ 15 ] was initiated, although more intense recruitment took place from the end of 2019, after a series of changes had been made due to feedback (incl. Website development).…”

“…Parents in Child Nutrition Informing Community (PICNIC) is a peer education program aimed at supporting parents of infants and toddlers to help improve child feeding practice and diet quality [ 15 ]. Parents are trained in Dietitian-led workshops, provided with evidence-based child nutrition and feeding information to share within their social networks.…”

“…Recommendations from the pilot study participants ( n = 28) included improved access to online information by using social media platforms and website, and messages more focused on child feeding practices and appealing to parents in order to reach and positively influence behaviour. Providing a project-specific website, a closed Facebook (Fb) group and public social media pages, the PICNIC program is designed to meet parents ‘where they are’, and is expected to facilitate evidence-based information dissemination to reach and influence parents also outside the study population [ 15 , 16 ].…”

Engaging New Parents in the Development of a Peer Nutrition Education Model Using Participatory Action Research

“…PICNIC is a genuine example of research in practice, engaging end-users as co-researchers to determine evolving research and an implementation model. Details regarding the PICNIC project protocol have previously been published [ 25 ]. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no current studies exist which have investigated infant and toddler feeding peer education models using informal, existing social structures to share nutrition and child feeding information between parents.…”