Effects of School Gardens on Children's Diet, Nutritional Knowledge, Etc.

Dietary Habits Clinical Trial

— HGHY  

Official title:

Healthy Gardens, Healthy Youth (HGHY): A People's Garden School Pilot Program

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02166034
• Other study ID #: CN-CGP-11-0047
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: May 15, 2014
• Last updated: June 15, 2014
• Start date: August 2011
• Est. completion date: June 2013

Study information

• Verified date: May 2014
• Source: Cornell University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: United States: Federal Government
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine whether school gardens influence children's dietary intake, nutritional knowledge, and other outcomes.

Description:

Schools in New York, Washington State, Iowa, and Arkansas were randomly assigned to receive school gardens and associated curriculum or to serve on the wait list control group that received gardens and curriculum at the end of the 2-year study. Baseline data were collected in Fall 2011. Garden interventions began in Spring 2012. Follow-up data were collected at 6, 12, 18 months following baseline data collection.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 3531
• Est. completion date: June 2013
• Est. primary completion date: June 2013
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 6 Years to 14 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Schools had at least 50% of enrolled children qualifying for free + reduced price meals (FRPM)

• Schools did not already have a school garden.

Exclusion Criteria:

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Open Label

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Dietary Habits

Intervention

Behavioral:
• garden intervention
The intervention includes raised bed garden kits for participating classes as well as access to garden-based curriculum.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Schools in New York State	Ithaca	New York
United States	Schools in Arkansas	Little Rock	Arkansas
United States	Schools in Iowa	Osceola	Iowa
United States	Schools in Washington State	Tacoma	Washington

Sponsors (4)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Cornell University	Iowa State University, University of Arkansas, Washington State University

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	change in fruit + vegetable intake at school	Children's lunch trays are photographed before and after lunch for 3 days at each wave of data collection. Digital Food Image Analysis software computes grams of fruit and grams of vegetables consumed for each pair of lunch tray photos.	change from baseline to follow-up at 6, 12, 18 months	No
Secondary	Garden Intervention Fidelity	fruit + vegetables planted, harvested; methods of fruit and vegetable distribution; and garden-based lessons delivered to the class are measures at each wave of data collection from Fall 2011 to Spring 2013.	At 3 garden intervention time points -- 6, 12, 18 months after baseline	No
Secondary	change fruit & vegetable consumption at home		change from baseline (Fall 2011) to follow-up at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months.	No
Secondary	change in Nutritional Knowledge	In the classroom, children complete a 7-item multiple choice questionnaire developed by the Healthy Gardens, Healthy Youth curriculum development team. The questionnaire includes items about plant science (e.g., Which part of the plant uses the sun's energy to make food? root, stem, leaf, flower) and nutrition (e.g., Which nutrient supplies our bodies with energy? fiber, carbohydrates, water, vitamins). Data represent the number of correct answers.	change from baseline to follow-up at 6, 12, 18 months	No
Secondary	change in Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) self efficacy	In the classroom, children complete a 15-item questionnaire, derived from the Science Process Skills Inventory (SPSI) (Arnold & Bourdeau, 2009) and the Iowa 4-H Science Youth Self-Assessment (Staker, 2011). Items include, for example: "I can do an experiment to answer a question" and "I can develop a plan for a good garden I want to plant" with response options "Disagree." "Not Sure." or "Agree" denoted 1, 2, or 3 respectively. The STEM self-efficacy score range is thus 15-45, with higher scores indicating that participant has stronger positive beliefs in their abilities to use STEM to solve problems.	change from baseline (Fall 2011) to follow-up at 6, 12, 18 months.	No