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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2018 Jun 26;18(1):788.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-5685-1.

Thirsty? Choose Water! Behavioural interventions and water stations in secondary schools a two-by-two factorial randomised controlled trial

Nicole Kajons  1 , Michael David  2 , Justine Gowland-Ella  1 , Peter Lewis  3 , Samantha Batchelor  4
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Thirsty? Choose Water! Behavioural interventions and water stations in secondary schools a two-by-two factorial randomised controlled trial

Nicole Kajons et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Childhood overweight and obesity is a significant public health issue. A key contributing factor is sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) consumption. Evidence suggests that secondary school students are frequent consumers of SSBs, with high daily consumption. The promotion of water consumption and provision of chilled water stations can reduce SSBs consumption. The Thirsty Choose Water! study will evaluate the effectiveness of two interventions, a behavioural intervention, Thirsty? Choose Water! behavioural intervention (TCW-BI), that target students through the domains of the health promoting high schools framework, and the second intervention is the installation and promotion of chilled water stations.

Methods/design: This community trial will recruit 60 secondary schools from across three Local Health Districts (LHDs) within New South Wales (NSW). A two-by-two factorial study design will be used to determine the effect of the Thirsty? Choose Water! behavioural intervention (TCW-BI), and the installation of chilled water stations. The recruited secondary schools will be randomised and non-blinded to one of four study arms receiving either the TCW-BI or chilled water stations, both interventions, or neither (control group). Baseline measures will be collected including student self-report surveys which will gather data regarding knowledge, attitudes and consumption of water and SSBs, a school profile and an environmental scan. Student surveys will be repeated post the intervention and at follow-up. Regular water meter readings will determine the water flow from the chilled water stations across the study period.

Discussion: There is an increasing body of evidence which suggests that decreasing consumption of SSBs can impact positively on childhood overweight and obesity. However, in the Australian context there are limited studies on how this may occur in the secondary school setting. This study will add to this evidence base and establish the effectiveness of TCW-BI and chilled water stations, either alone or combination on increasing water consumption in adolescents. Information about barriers and facilitators to implementation will be documented. Packages to support the implementation of the TCW-BI as a state-wide initiative will be developed.

Trial registration: Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register ACTRN12618000526279 April 2018.

Keywords: Chilled water stations; Health promoting schools; Obesity; Protocol study; School intervention; Sugar sweetened beverages; Water consumption.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethics approval was obtained from the Hunter New England Human Research Ethics Committee (17/08/16/4.07), the NSW Department of Education (SERAP2017457) and Broken Bay, Sydney and Wollongong Catholic Diocese. Consent to participate in the study is provided at the school level by school principals. Participation of students in the evaluation component of the study will be through an opt-out consent process, where parents must provide written documentation to state they do not wish their child to participate in the evaluation. This opt-out consent process approach was approved by all the above ethical reviews, with the exception of the Sydney Catholic Diocese. Participating schools within this Diocese require written informed consent from parents for their child to participate in the evaluation component, and the study has accommodated this requirement.

Consent for publication

Not applicable

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of Thirsty Choose Water study
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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