An analysis of current obesity strategies for adolescents in <scp>NSW</scp> against best practice recommendations: Implications for researchers, policymakers and practitioners

Partridge, Stephanie R.; Reece, Lindsey; Sim, Kyra; Todd, Allyson; Jia, Si Si; Raeside, Rebecca; Schirmer, Teisha; Phongsavan, Philayrath; Redfern, Julie

doi:10.1002/hpja.606

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The current approach to improving the health behaviours of adolescents needs to be aligned with best practice recommendations [26]. Programs that target mental health often do not focus on nutrition and physical activity behaviours [27] and programs with an obesity prevention or management lens can be stigmatizing [28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A healthy lifestyle text message intervention for adolescents: protocol for the Health4Me randomized controlled trial

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Adolescence presents a window of opportunity to establish good nutrition and physical activity behaviours to carry throughout the life course. Adolescents are at risk of developing cardiovascular and other chronic diseases due to poor the complex interplay of physical and mental health lifestyle risk factors. Text messaging is adolescents main form of everyday communication and text message programs offer a potential solution for support and improvement of lifestyle health behaviours. The primary aim of this study is to determine effectiveness of the Health4Me text message program to improve adolescent’s physical activity or nutrition behaviours among adolescents over 6-months, compared to usual care. Methods Health4Me is a virtual, two-arm, single-blind randomised controlled trial, delivering a 6-month healthy lifestyle text message program with optional health counselling. Recruitment will be through digital advertising and primary care services. In total, 330 adolescents will be randomised 1:1 to intervention or control (usual care) groups. The intervention group will receive 4–5 text messages per week for 6-months. All text messages have been co-designed with adolescents. Messages promote a healthy lifestyle by providing practical information, health tips, motivation and support for behaviour change for physical activity, nutrition, mental health, body image, popular digital media and climate and planetary health. Virtual assessments will occur at baseline and 6-months assessing physical health (physical activity, nutrition, body mass index, sleep), mental health (quality of life, self-efficacy, psychological distress, anxiety, depression, eating disorder risk) and lifestyle outcomes (food insecurity and eHealth literacy). Discussion This study will determine the effectiveness of a 6-month healthy lifestyle text message intervention to improve physical activity and nutrition outcomes in adolescents. Trial registration Australia New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) ACTRN12622000949785, Date registered: 05/07/2022.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A healthy lifestyle text message intervention for adolescents: protocol for the Health4Me randomized controlled trial

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the Health4Me Study we recruited a national sample and participants self-referred into the study. In addition, there are limited prevention programs currently available for adolescents [34] and the intervention and all advertising materials were co-designed with adolescents [26]. We employed a small day-to-day research team who communicated regularly through detailed screening and recruitment logs, and participants were reimbursed through online gift vouchers after completing all study activities at baseline and 6-month follow-up.…”

Section: Comparison With Prior Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recruitment of adolescents to virtual clinical trials: experiences from the Health4Me clinical trial (Preprint)

Raeside,

Todd,

Barakat

et al. 2024

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BACKGROUND Preventive interventions are needed to provide targeted health support to adolescents to improve health behaviors. Engaging adolescents in preventive interventions remains a challenge, highlighting the need for innovative recruitment strategies. Given adolescents’ lives are intertwined with digital technologies, attention should be focused on these avenues for recruitment. The evolving nature of clinical trials, including the emergence of virtual clinical trials, require new recruitment approaches, which must be evaluated. OBJECTIVE To examine the effectiveness and cost of various digital recruitment strategies for recruiting adolescents to a virtual clinical trial, and to evaluate the progression of participants from screening to enrolment and explore factors associated with non-participation. We do this using the example of the Health4Me Study, a preventive digital health intervention to improve physical activity and nutrition behaviors among adolescents 12-18 years old. METHODS Participants were recruited into the Health4Me Study via social media advertisements on various contemporary platforms, emails to schools, emails to contacts within known networks and emails to relevant youth organizations. Data was collected from social media advertisements, screening, and recruitment logs. Data analysis included summary and descriptive statistics, as well as Chi-Squared tests to explore factors associated with non-participation. RESULTS From 2369 expressions of interest, 390 (16.4%) participants were enrolled. A total of 19 advertisements were placed on social media, and 385 promotional emails were sent to schools, contacts within known networks, and relevant youth organizations. Social media advertisements reached 408,077 unique accounts. Advertisements mostly reached those living in populous states in Australia (75% of unique accounts [306,489/408,077]) and those identifying as female (43.5% of unique accounts [177,698/408,077]). 25% of advertisements were delivered to accounts with uncategorised genders (101,907/408,077). Total cost per participant enrolled was AUD $3.89 (USD $2.58). Most participants (85.9%, 1980/2305) found out about the study through Instagram. Differences in screening characteristics between eligible participants who did and did not enrol were found to be statistically significant for gender (P=.02) with fewer males and more individuals reporting their gender as 'Other' enrolling than expected than by chance alone. Recruitment method also differed (P<.001), with fewer participants enrolling through Instagram and more enrolling through other methods (e.g. known networks, word of mouth) than expected by chance alone. CONCLUSIONS In this study we show that virtual clinical trial recruitment was found to be low-cost with the potential to increase trial participation. Social media was the most effective recruitment method, reaching all states and territories, including hard-to-reach populations. Future action is needed to explore recruitment methods which are more effective for males and to build trust among adolescents regarding clinical trial recruitment via social media.

show abstract

Recruitment of Adolescents to Virtual Clinical Trials: Recruitment Results From the Health4Me Randomized Controlled Trial

Raeside,

Todd,

Barakat

et al. 2024

JMIR Pediatr Parent

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Preventive interventions are needed to provide targeted health support to adolescents to improve health behaviors. Engaging adolescents in preventive interventions remains a challenge, highlighting the need for innovative recruitment strategies. Given adolescents’ lives are intertwined with digital technologies, attention should be focused on these avenues for recruitment. The evolving nature of clinical trials, including the emergence of virtual clinical trials, requires new recruitment approaches, which must be evaluated. Objective This study aimed to examine the effectiveness and cost of various digital recruitment strategies for recruiting adolescents to a virtual clinical trial, evaluate the progression of participants from screening to enrollment, and explore factors associated with nonparticipation. This was conducted using data from the Health4Me Study, a preventive digital health intervention to improve physical activity and nutrition behaviors among adolescents aged 12 to 18 years. Methods Participants were recruited into the Health4Me Study via social media advertisements on various contemporary platforms, emails to schools, emails to contacts within known networks, and emails to relevant youth organizations. Data were collected from social media advertisements, screening, and recruitment logs. Data analysis included summary and descriptive statistics, as well as chi-square tests to explore factors associated with nonparticipation. Results From 2369 expressions of interest, 390 (16.4%) participants were enrolled. A total of 19 advertisements were placed on social media, and 385 promotional emails were sent to schools, contacts within known networks, and relevant youth organizations. Social media advertisements reached 408,077 unique accounts. Advertisements mostly reached those living in populous states in Australia (306,489/408,077, 75.11% of unique accounts) and those identifying as female (177,698/408,077, 43.55% of unique accounts). A total of 24.97% (101,907/408,077) of advertisements were delivered to accounts with uncategorized genders. The total cost per participant enrolled was Aus $3.89 (approximately US $2.58). Most participants (1980/2305, 85.90%) found out about this study through Instagram. Differences in screening characteristics between eligible participants who did and did not enroll were found to be statistically significant for gender (P=.02), with fewer males and more individuals reporting their gender as “other” enrolling than expected by chance alone. The recruitment method also differed (P<.001), with fewer participants enrolling through Instagram and more enrolling through other methods (eg, known networks or word of mouth) than expected by chance alone. Conclusions This study found that virtual clinical trial recruitment was found to be low-cost, with the potential to increase trial participation. Social media was the most effective recruitment method, reaching all states and territories, including hard-to-reach populations. Future action is needed to explore recruitment methods that are more effective for males and to build trust among adolescents regarding clinical trial recruitment via social media.

show abstract

An analysis of current obesity strategies for adolescents in NSW against best practice recommendations: Implications for researchers, policymakers and practitioners

Cited by 3 publications

References 28 publications

A healthy lifestyle text message intervention for adolescents: protocol for the Health4Me randomized controlled trial

A healthy lifestyle text message intervention for adolescents: protocol for the Health4Me randomized controlled trial

Recruitment of adolescents to virtual clinical trials: experiences from the Health4Me clinical trial (Preprint)

Recruitment of Adolescents to Virtual Clinical Trials: Recruitment Results From the Health4Me Randomized Controlled Trial

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About