WAVE~Ripples for Change: Obesity Prevention in Active Youth

The WAVE~Ripples for Change: Obesity Prevention in Active Youth in Afterschool Programs Using Virtual- and Real-World Experiential Learning

Intervention targets youth ages 14 - 19 participating in soccer teams. The intervention group will be given face to face nutrition lessons and have access to an online immersive learning environment. The comparison group will not. The project will test if the immersive learning environment is effective in preventing unhealthy weight gain.

Active youth are just as likely to develop poor dietary habits that can contribute to obesity later in life, after high school sports has ended. However, youth in sports may provide a key "window of opportunity" to teach them about eating health foods if that information is tied to sport performance. This project will test to see if that is true. The virtual world is an idea medium for learning for this project. The project will test whether it indeed can result in behavior change more effectively than just more traditional face to face learning.

All intervention youth participants will receive three components: Nutrition lessons Virtual World learning environment Newsletters

Every participant has their own unique avatar in the virtual world learning environment named Rippleville. They can choose to complete quests, watch archived nutrition video lessons, explore, and socialize with other avatars. They receive rewards (Rippleville dollar and badges) for their efforts.

All participants in the intervention and comparison groups receive up to 10 professional newsletters on topics related to sports nutrition and performance, healthy eating and active living tips.

Nutrition: Meet specific good groups dietary recommendation/guideline for fruit, vegetables, fat, and sugar intakes.

Intakes of fat, sugar, fruits and vegetables are measured by self-reported screener using the Block Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQ). Change in intake frequencies are compared baseline, 12 and 24 months later.

MVPA is measured by total steps and minutes per day with the use of a wearable lifestyle tracker such as the Fitbit. Average steps during soccer season and outside soccer season are compared.

Together with MVPA, sleep is measured by average number of sleep hours per day as self-reported by participants via written and/or electronic surveys .

Height and body weight are measured using a stadiometer (SECA 217, SECA Corp., Singapore) and a Tanita scale (TM-300A, Tanita Corp., Itabashi-Ku, Tokyo, Japan).

Inclusion Criteria: youth ages 14 - 19 at baseline enrolled in a high school soccer program living with a parent/caregiver in Oregon without medical condition that hinders them from consuming normal healthy diets has assess to the internet during the 2-year study proficient in English Exclusion Criteria: non-English speakers (youth) prisoners

We will provide IPD (with participant's full name deidentified with a unique ID) upon request after the completion of the study for research and education purpose (not for-profit/commercial use). Types of data available include demography, anthropometry, nutrition, physical activity, sleep, psychosocial, and knowledge in sports nutrition.

All requests will be sent to the Lead PD (Wong) and approval will be made jointly by both PD Wong & Manore.