Healthy Children, Healthy Communities: Helping rural family childcare homes improve preschoolers' diets

Is this trial a fit for you?

A plain-English reading of the study's rules. Only the study team can confirm whether you qualify.

What this trial studies

This cluster randomized controlled trial enrolls about 120 licensed family childcare homes in nonmetropolitan counties, with roughly 240 preschool-aged children nested within those homes. Participating providers are randomly assigned to an intervention that includes seven online training modules over 16 weeks, seven individual Zoom coaching sessions, and short recorded mealtime videos for personalized feedback, versus a comparison approach (Better Kid Care). Primary outcomes include children's dietary intake and provider feeding practices, with secondary measures of child BMI z-scores, skin carotenoid levels as a biomarker of fruit and vegetable intake, and the mealtime emotional climate. The unit of randomization is the family childcare home, and data collection occurs at the provider and child levels.

Why it matters

Who can join: the full rules

Inclusion Criteria:

FCCH Settings:

* Licensed family child care home-based early child care and education settings
* Located in RURAL Nebraska or Kansas
* Participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)
* Care for at least 2 preschool-aged children (3-5 years old) without feeding disorders or developmental delays
* Provide meals and snacks to attending children
* Located in a county designated as nonmetropolitan based on the 2023 rural urban continuum codes.

FCCH Providers:

* Currently caring for at least two eligible 3-5 year old children who consume at least one meal and one snack in the program for at least two days per week.
* Present with children during meals and snacks
* Over the age of 19 years
* Have not participated in the intervention before

Children:

* Between 3 to 5 years old
* Must consume at least one meal and one snack in the program for at least two days per week.
* No dietary restrictions or feeding disorder that impact how they eat (lactose intolerance, egg/nut allergies, or vegetarian diet are acceptable)
* Typically developing children (no diagnosis of developmental delays as identified by childcare providers)
* Have a parent or guardian 19 years of age or older to consent for them

Exclusion Criteria:

FCCH Providers:

* FCCH provider closes the business
* FCCH provider stops serving meals to children
* FCCH provider discontinues participation in CACFP and no longer adheres to CACFP meal pattern requirements
* FCCH provider loses all eligible study children due to children leaving care, developing developmental delays or feeding disorders, or other reasons making them ineligible

Children:

* Diagnosis of dietary restrictions or feeding disorder that impact how they eat (soft diet requirements or difficulty swallowing that impacts how they eat)
* Diagnosis of developmental delays

Where it's running

• University of Nebraska Lincoln
  Lincoln, Nebraska, United States Recruiting

Study contacts

• Principal investigator: Dipti Dev, PhD — University of Nebraska Lincoln
• Study coordinator: Dipti Dev, PhD
• Email: unlhealthychildren@unl.edu
• Phone: 402-472-2605

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How to take part

1. Review the eligibility criteria above with your treating physician.
2. Check the official listing on ClinicalTrials.gov for the latest contact details and recruitment status.
3. Contact the study coordinator or principal investigator to ask for pre-screening. Pre-screening is free and never obligates you to enroll.