Community Garden Health Block program

The Community Garden Health Block

This project will try an 8-week community garden program to see if volunteering, social garden activities, and healthy cooking demonstrations increase fruit and vegetable intake and access to healthy food for adults in low-resource Arkansas neighborhoods.

Quick facts

• Phase: Not applicable
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 138 (estimated)
• Ages: 18 Years to 95 Years
• Sex: All
• Sponsor: University of Arkansas (Academic / other)
• Locations: 1 site (Little Rock, Arkansas)
• Trial ID: NCT06455215 on ClinicalTrials.gov

What this trial studies

This community-based, cluster-randomized program assigns participants to one of seven neighborhood gardens, with four gardens starting the 8-week intervention immediately and three receiving a delayed intervention. Adults aged 18–95 who live within one mile of a participating garden and report some food insecurity will volunteer in the garden, join social activities, and take part in cooking demonstrations and educational sessions. Participants complete surveys at baseline, 8 weeks, and 6 months to measure fruit and vegetable intake, access to healthy food, food security, and other measures such as physical activity and life satisfaction. Outcomes in the intervention gardens will be compared to those in the delayed-intervention gardens to see if participation leads to improved diet and food access.

Who should consider this trial

Good fit: Ideal participants are Arkansas residents aged 18–95 who live within one mile of a participating garden, speak English, are currently food insecure, have not volunteered in the garden in the past six months, and are willing to volunteer and complete study surveys.

Not a fit: People who live farther than one mile from the participating gardens, are not food insecure, cannot volunteer or attend in-person activities, or face language or mobility barriers are unlikely to receive benefit from this program.

Why it matters

Potential benefit: If successful, the program could increase fruit and vegetable consumption and improve access to healthy foods for food-insecure adults, which may reduce diet-related health risks.

How similar studies have performed: Previous community garden and healthy cooking demonstration programs have shown improvements in food access and fruit and vegetable consumption in some settings, though randomized garden-level trials remain relatively limited.

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Arkansas resident aged 18-95;
2. live in community within 1 mile radius of a participating garden;
3. speak English;
4. willingness to participate in the garden as a volunteer during the study intervention period;
5. not previously participated in the garden as a volunteer in past 6 months;
6. scores as food insecure on 1 of any of the food security measures (i.e. food did not last, could not eat balanced meal, cut the size or skip meals and frequency at which this happens, eat less than you think you should, were hungry but did not eat);
7. written informed consent;
8. working phone, home address, and email;

10\) willingness to complete all survey assessments.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Does not live within 1 mile radius of a participating garden.

Where this trial is running

Little Rock, Arkansas

• University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences — Little Rock, Arkansas, United States (Recruiting)

Study contacts

• Principal investigator: Pebbles Fagan, PhD, MPH — Uams
• Study coordinator: Pebbles Fagan, PhD, MPH

Conditions Fruit and Vegetable Consumption; food security, community gardens, fruit/vegetable consumption