Nutrients (Nov 2020)

5-Year Follow-Up of a Telephone Intervention to Increase Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in Preschoolers: The ‘<i>Healthy Habits</i>’ Cluster Randomised Trial

  • Rebecca Wyse,
  • Fiona Stacey,
  • Libby Campbell,
  • Serene Yoong,
  • Christophe Lecathelinais,
  • John Wiggers,
  • Karen Campbell,
  • Luke Wolfenden

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12123702
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 12
p. 3702

Abstract

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Little is known about the long-term impact of telephone-based interventions to improve child diet. This trial aimed to assess the long-term effectiveness (after 5 years) of a telephone-based parent intervention in increasing children’s fruit and vegetable consumption. Parents of 3–5 year olds were recruited from 30 Australian preschools to participate in a cluster randomised controlled trial. Intervention parents received four, weekly, 30-min support calls aimed at modifying the home food environment. Control parents received printed materials. Consumption was assessed using the Fruit and Vegetable subscale of the Children’s Dietary Questionnaire (F&V-CDQ) (children) and daily servings of fruit and vegetables (children and parents) via parent telephone interview. Of the 394 parents who completed baseline, 57% (99 intervention, 127 control) completed follow-up. After 5-years, higher intervention F&V-CDQ scores, bordering on significance, were found in complete-case (+1.1, p = 0.06) and sensitivity analyses (+1.1, p = 0.06). There was no difference in parent or child consumption of daily fruit servings. Complete-case analysis indicated significantly higher consumption of child vegetable servings (+0.5 servings; p = 0.02), which was not significant in sensitivity analysis (+0.5 servings; p = 0.10). This telephone-based parent intervention targeting the family food environment may yield promising improvements in child fruit and vegetable consumption over a 5-year period.

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