Publications by authors named "Kate Balestracci"
Purpose: To understand pediatricians', community partners', and food insecure parent/caregivers' perspectives on addressing food access and nutrition education in clinical settings, and to conduct a formative evaluation of a clinical-community food access and nutrition education intervention.
Design: A mixed-methods evaluation.
Setting: Data was collected from pediatricians and parents/caregivers recruited from one urban pediatric primary care clinic, and from community partners involved in food access.
Objective: To describe the results of a technology-integrated intervention on sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) and energy-dense snack intake with third graders experiencing low income.
Design: A 2 × 2 quasi-randomized cluster-block, parallel-group experimental research design.
Setting: Low-income schools in Rhode Island.
In-depth formative evaluations are vital for curriculum development and program planning but are often not conducted before a program pilots. A formative evaluation of Project stRIde was conducted to gain insight from experts and identify revisions to the curriculum. Project stRIde is a science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) and nutrition-based curriculum developed for 4th and 5th grade students from low-income and diverse families.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of the present study was to develop the ASKFV-SE tool to measure self-efficacy (SE) towards requesting fruits and vegetables (FV) in the home and school environment with school-age children (grades 4-5) from urban, ethnically diverse, low-income households. Cognitive interviews reduced the tool from eleven items to seven. The 7-item questionnaire was tested with 444 children.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To capture students' perceptions of participating in a nutrition education program.
Design: Focus groups (n = 16).
Setting: Low-income schools in Rhode Island.
Objective: To conduct a comprehensive process evaluation of a policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change intervention.
Design: Quasi-experimental, mixed methods.
Setting: Low-income urban school district.
Background: The unprecedented rise in obesity among young adults, who have limited interaction with health services, has not been successfully abated.
Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the maintenance outcomes of a 12-week mHealth intervention on prevention of weight gain in young adults and lifestyle behaviors at 9 months from baseline.
Methods: A two-arm, parallel, randomized controlled trial (RCT) with subjects allocated to intervention or control 1:1 was conducted in a community setting in Greater Sydney, Australia.
Background: TXT2BFiT was one of the first few innovative mHealth programs designed for young adults (18-35 years) with demonstrated efficacy in weight management. However, research is lacking to understand intervention effectiveness, especially in complex, multi-component mHealth programs. This paper investigates participant perceptions of and engagement with the mHealth program components in the TXT2BFiT to understand program effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Weight gained in young adulthood often persists throughout later life with associated chronic disease risk. Despite this, current population prevention strategies are not specifically designed for young adults.
Objective: We designed and assessed the efficacy of an mHealth prevention program, TXT2BFiT, in preventing excess weight gain and improving dietary and physical activity behaviors in young adults at increased risk of obesity and unhealthy lifestyle choices.
Background: Younger adults are difficult to engage in preventive health, yet in Australia they are gaining more weight and increasing in waist circumference faster than middle-to-older adults. A further challenge to engaging 18- to 35-year-olds in interventions is the limited reporting of outcomes of recruitment strategies.
Objective: This paper describes the outcomes of strategies used to recruit young adults to a randomized controlled trial (RCT), healthy lifestyle mHealth program, TXT2BFiT, for prevention of weight gain.
Background: Young adulthood is associated with poor dietary habits and vulnerability to weight gain. Population studies have revealed that inadequate fruit and vegetable intake, excessive sugar-sweetened beverages, and frequent takeaway food consumption are dietary habits requiring intervention.
Objective: The aim was to examine the dietary patterns and diet quality of overweight young adults on enrollment into a mobile phone-based healthy lifestyle (mHealth) intervention, TXT2BFiT.
Background: Despite international efforts to arrest increasing rates of overweight and obesity, many population strategies have neglected young adults as a target group. Young adults are at high risk for unhealthy weight gain which tends to persist throughout adulthood with associated chronic disease health risks.
Methods/design: TXT2BFiT is a nine month two-arm parallel-group randomized controlled trial aimed at improving weight management and weight-related dietary and physical activity behaviors among young adults.