i-MaCHeL Study is a Two-group, Cluster-RCT, Involves 460 Preschool's Child-parent Dyads, to Prevent Childhood Obesity (i-MaCHeL)
Childhood Obesity Prevention
About this trial
This is an interventional prevention trial for Childhood Obesity Prevention focused on measuring Obesity, Preschool children, Web based program, Body Mass Index, Dietary intake, Physical activity, Health related quality of life, Self efficacy, Role modeling, Cluster randomized controlled trial
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
To be included in the study, children have to be aged 5- or 6-years Malaysian citizens and attending MOE public preschools in the Kuala Terengganu and Kuala Nerus districts. Besides, the parent/guardian of the preschool children must:
- Could read and understand either English or Malay
- To be aged between 25 to 49 years
- Have regular internet access via a tablet device, mobile phone, or computer/laptop
- Have regular access to a phone with texting capability
- Have WhatsApp and Facebook accounts or agreed to create the accounts
- Comfortable to read/view materials on electronic devices
- Willing to complete all questionnaires with their child throughout the study
Exclusion Criteria:
Child-parent dyads will be excluded if they have the following criteria:
- Children that are taking medications or have a medical condition with the potential to affect the weight or restrict age-appropriate play
- Children that are having conditions that require the restriction of certain foods (e.g., celiac disease or food allergies)
- Parents that are suffering from a severe physical or psychological illness, making the study too demanding for the family
Sites / Locations
- Universiti Sultan Zainal AbidinRecruiting
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Experimental
Active Comparator
Interactive Malaysian Childhood Healthy Lifestyle Program (i-MaCHeL)
Standard health education
The preschool children in the experimental group will be exposed to interactive classroom instruction, and their parents will be exposed to the Web-based program. In the experimental group, apart from the standard preschool health education curriculum, the preschool children will also be exposed to the interactive activities and quizzes using Web 2.0 tools, educational videos of a healthy lifestyle, sensory-based food education activities, cooking demonstrations, fun, and active games, and exercises. Whereas the parents will be exposed to Web-based healthy lifestyle educational materials, videos, and pictures sharing, quizzes, and communication through the WhatsApp and closed Facebook groups. Besides, a total of 3 messages per week will be delivered to the parents in the experimental group. The messages will be included announcing the release of a new topic, a reminder to log in to the website and read the health information, and a reminder to participate in the online activities.
The children in the control group do not have exposed to the i-MaCHeL interactive classroom instruction, and their parents do not have access to the i-MaCHeL website materials. Thus, the children will be continued with standard health education only in the preschool setting, and their parents will be received Web-based health newsletters. The Web-based newsletters consist of general health information that are relevant to the preschool life stage. In ensuring that the experimental and control groups appear the same, the topics in the Web-based newsletters will have a look and feel similar nature to the experimental group condition. But still, the topics will not be included the interactive components such as videos and pictures sharing activities, quizzes, individualized feedback, and communication through WhatsApp and closed Facebook groups. Only one message (announcement of the release of a new topic) per week will be delivered to parents of the control group.