A randomized trial to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage and juice intake in preschool-aged children: description of the Smart Moms intervention trial

• Published in: BMC public health Vol. 16; no. 1; p. 837
• Main Authors: Nezami, Brooke T, Lytle, Leslie A, Tate, Deborah F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 19-08-2016; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Adults; Age; Behavior; Behavior Therapy - methods; Beverages; Body Weight; Carbohydrates; Care and treatment; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; Children & youth; Clinical trials; Consumption; Control; Counseling; Diet; Dietary Sucrose - administration & dosage; Early childhood; Electronic Mail; Families & family life; Family studies; Feasibility studies; Feedback; Feeding Behavior; Female; Food and nutrition; Fruit and Vegetable Juices; Fruit juices; Group dynamics; Health aspects; Health care; Health education; Health Promotion - methods; Humans; Internet; Intervention; Juices; Low income groups; Male; Maternal obesity; Meetings; Messages; Mothers; Nutritional aspects; Obesity; Obesity - therapy; Overweight; Pediatric Obesity - prevention & control; Pediatrics; Preschool children; Preschool education; Public health; Risk factors; Short message service; Smart phones; Smartphone; Smartphones; Studies; Study Protocol; Sugar; Sugar-sweetened beverages; Sweetening Agents - administration & dosage; Teenagers; Text Messaging; Websites; Weight control; Weight gain; United States > US; Early childhood; Intervention; Obesity; Sugar-sweetened beverages; Maternal obesity
• ISSN: 1471-2458; 1471-2458
• DOI: 10.1186/s12889-016-3533-8

Obesity in young children remains a public health concern, and maternal weight is one of the strongest predictors of obesity in early childhood. However, parental adherence in interventions for young children is often low and existing programs have had mixed success. An innovative approach to treatment is needed that increases adherence among mothers and improves weight-related behaviors simultaneously in mothers and children. The objective of the Smart Moms randomized controlled trial (RCT) is to test the efficacy of a 6-month primarily smartphone-delivered program to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage and juice consumption among children ages 3-5 whose mothers are overweight or obese. This paper describes the study design and intervention.
Mother-child dyads were eligible if the mother was overweight or obese, owned a smartphone, and if the child was between the ages of 3-5 and consumed 12 oz or more per day of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and 100 % fruit juice. Participants were randomly assigned to the Smart Moms intervention or a waitlist control group. The intervention consisted of theoretically grounded and evidence-based behavioral strategies delivered through one group session, lessons on a mobile-optimized website, and text messages. Mothers submitted self-monitoring information via text message and received regular tailored feedback emails from interventionists. The primary outcome is change in child SSB and juice consumption and a secondary outcome is change in maternal weight.
This Smart Moms study was designed to determine if a low-burden intervention delivered using mobile methods and targeted towards mothers could be effective at changing child sugar-sweetened beverage intake. Results will indicate if mobile-based methods can be a feasible way to engage mothers in family-based studies and will inform successful strategies to prevent childhood obesity through parent-targeted approaches.
Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02098902 (Registered March 25, 2014).