An evaluation of an attempt to change the snacking habits of pre-school children using social marketing

Richards, Jacqueline; Hackett, A. F.; Duggan, Brooke L. J.; Ellis, Tim; Forrest, Diana; Grey, P.

doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2009.07.001

Cited by 16 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Studies using intention to change as a proxy measure of behaviour change in target behaviours found increased intentions in adults [25,28]. Fewer studies have measured behavioural outcomes and results have been inconsistent; some have found no changes in behaviour in adults [24,27] or children [10], while others have reported positive changes in adults [23], children [12,13][12,13] and parents [29]. Although one campaign (VERB) found no overall increase in children’s physical activity [10], level of activity correlated with campaign exposure [11] and was increased in certain subgroups, including children with low levels of activity at baseline and whose parents had low educational levels and lived in densely populated urban areas [10].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…‘Snack Right’ was a local campaign targeted at parents to change the snacking habits of pre-school children [13]. Results indicated that although parents reported spending more on fruit (not vegetables), children’s intake did not increase, nor did children’s overall consumption of snacks change, although parents reported that their children had eaten fewer sugary foods and drinks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cluster-randomised trial to evaluate the ‘Change for Life’ mass media/ social marketing campaign in the UK

2012

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BackgroundSocial marketing campaigns offer a promising approach to the prevention of childhood obesity. Change4Life (C4L) is a national obesity prevention campaign in England. It included mass media coverage aiming to reframe obesity into a health issue relevant to all and provided the opportunity for parents to complete a brief questionnaire (‘How are the Kids’) and receive personalised feedback about their children’s eating and activity. Print and online C4L resources were available with guidance about healthy eating and physical activity. The study aims were to examine the impact of personalised feedback and print material from the C4L campaign on parents’ attitudes and behaviours about their children’s eating and activity in a community-based cluster-randomised controlled trial.MethodsParents of 5–11 year old children were recruited from 40 primary schools across England. Schools were randomised to intervention or control (‘usual care’). Basic demographic data and brief information about their attitudes to their children’s health were collected. Families in intervention schools were mailed the C4L print materials and the ‘How are the Kids’ questionnaire; those returning the questionnaire were sent personalised feedback and others received generic materials. Outcomes included awareness of C4L, attitudes to the behaviours recommended in C4L, parenting behaviours (monitoring and modelling), and child health behaviours (diet, physical activity and television viewing). Follow-up data were collected from parents by postal questionnaire after six months. Qualitative interviews were carried out with a subset of parents (n = 12).Results3,774 families completed baseline questionnaires and follow-up data were obtained from 1,419 families (37.6%). Awareness was high in both groups at baseline (75%), but increased significantly in the intervention group by follow-up (96% vs. 87%). Few parents (5.2% of the intervention group) returned the questionnaire to get personalised feedback. There were few significant group differences in parental attitudes or parenting and child health behaviours at follow-up. Physical activity was rated as less important in the intervention group, but a significant group-by-socioeconomic status (SES) interaction indicated that this effect was confined to higher SES families. Similar interactions were also seen for physical activity monitoring and child television time; with adverse effects in higher SES families and no change in the lower SES families. Effects were little better in families that completed the questionnaire and received personalised feedback. At interview, acceptability of the intervention was modest, although higher in lower SES families.ConclusionsThe C4L campaign materials achieved increases in awareness of the campaign, but in this sample had little impact on attitudes or behaviour. Low engagement with the intervention appeared a key issue.Trial registration numberCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN00791709.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cluster-randomised trial to evaluate the ‘Change for Life’ mass media/ social marketing campaign in the UK

2012

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“…As well as aiming to increase physical activity, four intervention studies implemented marketing strategies to promote healthier eating both in a school setting (Lee et al, 2018;Richards et al, 2009;Campbell et al, 2012) and in restaurants (Anzam-Frasca et al, 2017). Methods employed included social marketing strategies, "buddies" (the paring of older and younger school children) and toy incentives.…”

Section: Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Systematic Review, Narrative Synthesis and Conceptual Framework for Social Marketing and Behavioural Economics as Influencers of Health Behaviours in Children

Budzynski-Seymour¹,

Turvey²,

Paterson³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Purpose: To synthesise the evidence relating to the influence of marketing strategies that aimed to elicit behaviour change in terms of children’s lifestyle choices. Methods: Four databases were searched (January 2018) SPORTDiscus, PubMed, Science Direct and Web of Science, using pre-defined search terms. The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews (PRISMA) guidelines were adhered to. The inclusion criteria were: articles in the English language, access to full text, peer reviewed, participants were aged 12 and younger, it researched a health behaviour and the article had to report original research. Results: A total of 37 articles met the inclusion criteria and were analysed qualitatively using inductive thematic analysis and subsequently categorised into four themes. Of these studies 72% were nutrition based, 19% physical activity based, 5% included both nutrition and physical activity outcomes, and the remaining 4% focused on other behavioural outcomes. The majority of studies (95%) reported how child behaviour was changed using these social marketing techniques, with the remaining 5% reporting that further changes were needed for success to be found. Conclusion: The studies reviewed suggested a variety of marketing methods have been employed to influence child behaviour; both in terms of negative health behaviours such as TV advertisements influencing junk food consumption and positive health behaviours for example using social marketing in a physical activity promotion program. This review highlights the benefits of using marketing strategies to positively influence child health behaviours but warns they should be restricted when promoting negative health behaviours.

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“…Some studies suggest that the use of social marketing strategies to modify behaviour, lifestyles and other aspects of diet and physical activity through an intervention (target audience played an active role) or a campaign (target audience played a passive role) can reduce the overweight or obesity prevalence among children and adolescents. There are some social marketing campaigns that demonstrate positive attitude and behaviour effects in children, such as the VERB social marketing campaign to increase physical activity among youth [ 27 ], Canada’s ParticipACTION national physical activity mass media campaign targeting parents of elementary school-aged children [ 28 ] and an intervention focused on improving the snacking habits of pre-school children [ 29 ]. By contrast, “The 5,4,3,2,1 go!…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A youth-led social marketing intervention to encourage healthy lifestyles, the EYTO (European Youth Tackling Obesity) project: a cluster randomised controlled0 trial in Catalonia, Spain

et al. 2015

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BackgroundThe encouragement of healthy lifestyles for obesity prevention in young people is a public health priority. The European Youth Tackling Obesity (EYTO) project is a multicentric intervention project with participation from the United Kingdom, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Spain. The general aim of the EYTO project is to improve lifestyles, including nutritional habits and physical activity practice, and to prevent obesity in socioeconomically disadvantaged and vulnerable adolescents. The EYTO project works through a peer-led social marketing intervention that is designed and implemented by the adolescents of each participating country. Each country involved in the project acts independently. This paper describes the “Som la Pera” intervention Spanish study that is part of the EYTO project.Methods/DesignIn Spain, the research team performed a cluster randomised controlled intervention over 2 academic years (2013–2015) in which 2 high-schools were designated as the control group and 2 high-schools were designated as the intervention group, with a minimum of 121 schoolchildren per group.From the intervention group, 5 adolescents with leadership characteristics, called “Adolescent Challenge Creators” (ACCs), were recruited. These 5 ACCs received an initial 4 h training session about social marketing principles and healthy lifestyle theory, followed by 24 sessions (1.30 h/session) divided in two academic years to design and implement activities presented as challenges to encourage healthy lifestyles among their peers, the approximately 180–200 high-school students in the intervention group. During the design of the intervention, it was essential that the ACCs used the 8 social marketing criteria (customer orientation, behaviour, theory, insight, exchange, competition, segmentation and methods mix). The expected primary outcomes from the Spanish intervention will be as follows: increases in the consumption of fruits and vegetables and physical activity practice along with reductions in TV/computer/game console use. The secondary outcomes will be as follows: increased breakfast consumption, engagement with local recreation and reduced obesity prevalence. The outcomes will be measured by the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study (HBSC) survey at baseline and at the end of the intervention.In the control group, no intervention was implemented, but the outcome measurements were collected in parallel with the intervention group.DiscussionThis study described a new methodology to improve lifestyles and to address adolescent obesity.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02157402. Registered 03 June 2014.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-015-1920-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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An evaluation of an attempt to change the snacking habits of pre-school children using social marketing

Cited by 16 publications

References 9 publications

Cluster-randomised trial to evaluate the ‘Change for Life’ mass media/ social marketing campaign in the UK

Cluster-randomised trial to evaluate the ‘Change for Life’ mass media/ social marketing campaign in the UK

A Systematic Review, Narrative Synthesis and Conceptual Framework for Social Marketing and Behavioural Economics as Influencers of Health Behaviours in Children

A youth-led social marketing intervention to encourage healthy lifestyles, the EYTO (European Youth Tackling Obesity) project: a cluster randomised controlled0 trial in Catalonia, Spain

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