Obesity
Conditions
Keywords
Diet, reducing, Television, Child Behavior
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to determine whether a reduction in toddlers' and preschoolers' exposure to television advertising leads to a change in their diet.
Detailed description
TV viewing is among the most significant features of childhood. In the past generation or two, new technologies have made media viewing more ubiquitous and frequent: 30% of children eat regularly in front of TV, one-third under 6 have TVs in their bedrooms, and 30% make TV part of bedtime routines. By the age of 2 years, 90% of children watch TV or videos regularly. Among those who watch, average viewing is 1.5 hours daily by age 2. Yet the effects of this early viewing are poorly understood. In this study, we focus on children's diet, because children's food preferences have been shown to be easily influenced by advertising, and children's non-educational programming is heavy with advertising for poor nutritional-quality foods. We will recruit 70 families with children ages 24-30 months and randomize them to either a television-minimization intervention (the intervention arm) or a toddler safety and injury prevention arm (the control arm). A case manager will actively work with the intervention arm participants to strategize ways of minimizing their media exposure. In addition, families in the intervention arm will get access both to a study website and to a monthly newsletter. The website and newsletter will inform participants of the potential hazards of early media exposure, and will offer tips for alternative activities and strategies for keeping children occupied while the parent gets a much-needed break. The control arm will have no case manager, but will have access to a website and newsletter that will emphasize toddler safety and injury-prevention themes. At the conclusion of the 4-month trial, we will assess (a) whether the study participants regularly accessed their respective websites; (b) whether the intervention-arm participants have different beliefs and attitudes about television for toddlers; and (c) whether fewer intervention-arm children watch TV compared to control-arm infants. The comparison group will receive a similar intervention, except that it will not mention television viewing, and will instead focus on toddler and preschooler safety and injury-prevention topics, such as the appropriate use of car seats, smoke detectors, hot water heater temperature, safe gun storage, and other similar topics.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALTV modification
Parents receive a health behavior-change intervention consisting of 1 in-person visit from a case manager, followed by phone and e-mail contact at least monthly. The intervention is designed to promote healthy TV viewing, including viewing fewer commercials, by the target child aged 2-5 years old, and uses health behavior change theory and social cognitive theory.
BEHAVIORALsafety and injury prevention
Parents receive behavior-change counseling around toddler and preschooler safety and injury prevention.
Sponsors
Seattle Children's Hospital
University of Washington
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
2 Years to 5 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Must watch at least 1.5 hours of television a day on average * Must speak English at home * Residence in or near Seattle
Exclusion criteria
* Developmental delay
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Consumption of foods frequently advertised on television (sugary cereals, sugary beverages, candy, fast food, salty snacks) | at conclusion of trial and 6 months post-intervention |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed