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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2020 Apr 13;7(4):1217-1232.
doi: 10.1002/nop2.498. eCollection 2020 Jul.

The use of a communication tool about diet at the child health centre: A cluster randomized controlled trial

Bettina Holmberg Fagerlund  1 , Sølvi Helseth  1 , Lene F Andersen  2 , Milada C Småstuen  1 , Kari Glavin  3
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

The use of a communication tool about diet at the child health centre: A cluster randomized controlled trial

Bettina Holmberg Fagerlund et al. Nurs Open. .

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the effect of a communication tool about diet used in public health nurse consultations with parents compared with standard consultations concerning the 2-year-old child's diet.

Design: A cluster randomized controlled trial.

Methods: Ten municipalities were selected randomly and matched in pairs. In each pair, the control or intervention group was randomly allocated. Parents were recruited to participate from January 2015 to January 2017. In intervention clusters, a communication tool about diet was used to help the parents (N = 140) to focus on a healthy diet for their child. In the control clusters, parents (N = 110) attended standard consultations. The participants completed semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires at baseline and end point.

Results: No effect of the intervention was seen on the child's daily intake of vegetables or saturated fat, or body mass index. Significantly fewer parents desired more information about food for toddlers in the intervention than in the control group.

Keywords: child; child health services; clinical trial; counselling; food; nursing; nutrition; preschool child; public health nursing; vegetables.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The timeline according to the child's age in the clusters consisting of intervention and control municipalities
Figure 2
Figure 2
A flow diagram of the participant flow in the cluster randomized controlled trial according to the CONSORT extension for Cluster Trials (Campbell et al., 2012)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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