heather ohly registered nutritionist
DESCRIPTION
Heather Ohly Registered Nutritionist. Introduction. Food Standards Agency funded (now DH) Exploratory and developmental trial of a family-centred nutrition intervention delivered in children’s centres Rural/urban settings – Cornwall and Islington Collaboration with UCL. Study design. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Heather OhlyRegistered Nutritionist
IntroductionIntroduction• Food Standards Agency funded (now DH)
• Exploratory and developmental trial of a family-centred nutrition intervention delivered in children’s centres
• Rural/urban settings – Cornwall and Islington
• Collaboration with UCL
Study designStudy design
Exploratory phaseExploratory phase• Consultations with parents and children’s
centre staff
• Focus groups (39 parents; 24 staff)
• Individual interviews (6 parents)
• Questionnaire surveys (261 parents; 31 centre managers)
Summary of findingsSummary of findings• Nutrition intervention is needed
• Short.....flexible.....community outreach
• Emphasis on practical skills – cooking, recipe ideas, food shopping, budgeting, overcoming fussy eating
• Staff capacity and training needs
Development phaseDevelopment phase• Literature review of nutrition interventions
targeting under fives (UK & Worldwide)
• Review of resources available
• Consultations with local steering groups in both locations
Cherry courseCherry course• Four week course (2 hours per week)
• Free crèche provided
• Parent and child involvement
• Interactive and practical sessions
• Recruited and trained of tutors (FL)
Overview of sessionsOverview of sessions• Week 1: Family friendly foods• Week 2: Introducing new foods• Week 3: Healthy snacks and drinks• Week 4: Healthy eating on a budget
• Food preparation and tasting each week
• Cherry at home
RCT study designRCT study design• Randomly selected children’s centres (16)
• Randomly allocated to intervention or control group (8 pairs)
• Pairs matched by location and deprivation
• Baseline and 6 month follow-up evaluations
Evaluation methodsEvaluation methods• Primary outcome: children’s consumption of
fruits and vegetables (24 hour recalls)
• Secondary outcome: children’s consumption of sugary drinks and snacks (24 hour recalls)
• Other dietary outcomes and parents’ knowledge, attitudes etc (questionnaire)
Sample characteristicsSample characteristics• Total 394 families recruited (Cornwall = 190)
• Children aged 18 months – five years
• Good retention rate to follow-up (77%)
• As many low income families as possible
• Matched groups
Positive feedbackPositive feedback‘Talking to other parents was great and realising I wasn’t the only one going through it’
‘To see the children getting involved was inspiring’
‘She’s eating tangerines and cucumber which she never did before. She even gets cross if I forget to buy them!’
Key resultsKey resultsChild’s diet
Actual values of difference at follow up
Difference in change between INT & CON
Intervention Control Whole sample
Fruit + Veg intake (g) 28.7 6.422.3
(-3.2, 47.8)
Fruit intake(g) 19.1 8.210.8
(-13.0, 34.6)
Veg intake (g) 9.6 -1.811.5
(0.1, 22.8)Fruit intake (excluding
>1 portion juice)37.5 27.8
9.6(-6.4, 25.7)
Sugary drinks (ml) -9.3 22.8-32.1
(-85.6, 21.4)Sugary snacks (#
occasions)-0.06 0.11
-0.17(-0.34, 0.01)
Process evaluationProcess evaluation• Engagement with staff was important
• Nutrition training important
• Group dynamics could be challenging
• Difficulty of applying RCT model
• Most and least useful components
Future contact detailsFuture contact detailsDr Gail Rees
Lecturer in Human Nutrition
Plymouth University