The Food4toddlers study - study protocol for a web-based intervention to promote healthy diets for toddlers: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Background Eating habits are established during childhood and track into adolescence and later in life. Given that these habits have a large public health impact and influence the increasing rates of childhood obesity worldwide, there is a need for effective, evidence-based prevention trials promoting healthy eating habits in the first 2 years of life. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the effect of an eHealth intervention called Food4toddlers, aiming to promote healthy dietary habits in toddlers by targeting parents’ awareness of their child’s food environment (i.e., how food is provided or presented) and eating environment (e.g., feeding practices and social interaction). This paper describes the rationale, development, and evaluation design of this project. Methods/design We developed a 6-month eHealth intervention, with the extensive user involvement of health care nurses and parents of toddlers. This intervention is in line with the social cognitive theory, targeting the interwoven relationship between the person, behavior, and environment, with an emphasis on environmental factors. The intervention website includes recipes, information, activities, and collaboration opportunities. The Food4toddlers website can be used as a mobile application. To evaluate the intervention, a two-armed pre–post-follow-up randomized controlled trial is presently being conducted in Norway. Parents of toddlers ( n = 404) were recruited via social media (Facebook) and 298 provided baseline data of their toddlers at age 12 months. After baseline measurements, participants were randomly allocated to an intervention group or control group. Primary outcomes are the child’s diet quality and food variety. All participants will be followed up at age 18 months, 2 years, and 4 years. Discussion The results of this trial will provide evidence to increase knowledge about the effectiveness of an eHealth intervention targeting parents and their toddler’s dietary habits. Trial registration ISRCTN92980420 . Registered 13 September 2017. Retrospectively registered.

Associations between parental food choice motives, health-promoting feeding practices, and infants’ fruit and vegetable intakes: the Food4toddlers study

“…This study used baseline data from the Food4toddlers randomized controlled intervention study. Food4toddlers is a digital intervention aiming to promote healthy dietary habits among toddlers ( 12 – 18 months) ( 25 ). The recruitment period for this study was from August 2017 to January 2018, and our aim was to recruit 474 parent/infant dyads ( 25 ).…”

Process Evaluation of an eHealth Intervention (Food4toddlers) to Improve Toddlers' Diet: Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Food4toddlers is a randomized controlled trial, aiming to promote healthy dietary habits among toddlers [ 14 ]. A total of 404 parents of 12-month-old children were recruited through a Facebook advertisement, who then responded to a baseline questionnaire and were randomized into an intervention group and a control group.…”

“…We have previously developed and evaluated the effect of a dietary eHealth intervention called Food4toddlers in a randomized controlled trial, targeting parents of 12-18-month-old children [ 14 ]. The objectives of this study were to conduct a process evaluation of this eHealth intervention by examining the usage and perceived satisfaction of the intervention website among parents of toddlers and to explore whether this differed according to educational level and number of children in the household.…”

Association between parental feeding practices and shared family meals. The Food4toddlers study

“…In this paper, we explore potential association between feeding practices and family meals in families of infants. We used baseline data from the intervention study Food4toddlers (14) to explore these relations.…”