Haines, J., Douglas, S., Mirotta, J. A., O’Kane, C., Breau, R., Walton, K., Krystia, O., Chamoun, E., Annis, A., Darlington, G. A., Buchholz, A. C., Duncan, A. M., Vallis, L. A., Spriet, L. L., Mutch, D. M., Brauer, P., Allen-Vercoe, E., Taveras, E. M., Ma, D. W. L., & the Guelph Family Health Study. (2018). Guelph Family Health Study: Pilot study of a home-based obesity prevention intervention [Study 1: Four home visits]. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 109(4), 549–560. https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-018-0072-3
| Screening decision | Screening conclusion | HomVEE procedures and standards version |
|---|---|---|
| Passes screens | Eligible for review | Version 2 |
| Rating | Design | Attrition | Baseline equivalence | Compromised randomization | Confounding factors | Valid, reliable measure(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | Cluster randomized controlled trial | Low | Not assessed for randomized controlled trials with low attrition |
No | No |
Yes |
Findings for percentage of body fat, fruit and vegetable intake, consumption of sugar-sweetened beverage and juice, sleep duration, physical activity, and sedentary time received an indeterminate rating. That is because those findings had unknown attrition and HomVEE was unable to determine whether the intervention and comparison groups in the analyzed sample were equivalent at baseline on race or ethnicity and socioeconomic status. The study sample includes participants from Phase I of the Guelph Family Health Study.
| Study participants | Study families were recruited from agencies that provide services for families with young children and postings on the Ontario Early Years Centre Facebook page and the University of Guelph webpage. Families were eligible for the study if they had at least one child between 18 and 60 months and ineligible if they planned to move within the following year or did not speak English. Families were randomized to either the Guelph Family Health Study intervention (17 families) or the comparison condition (13 families). Twenty-eight families were included in the analyses in this manuscript (16 in the intervention group and 12 in the comparison group). Outcomes were measured six months after study enrollment. About 77 percent of parents were White, and about 68 percent had annual household incomes of $60,000 or more. |
|---|---|
| Setting | The study took place in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. |
| Intervention services | The Guelph Family Health Study intervention consisted of four home visits with a health educator, emails, and mailed incentives. The initial home visit lasted for one hour and follow-up home visits lasted 30 to 60 minutes. The home visits were scheduled about four- to six-weeks apart. The content of the home visits, which was designed to change health behaviors, was informed by family systems theory and self-determination theory. All visits took place in the families’ homes. The health educator helped families to set, review, and discuss health behavior changes, goals, solutions, and challenges. Families were sent weekly emails that were tailored to the behavior change goals they set with the health educator. |
| Comparison conditions | Families assigned to the comparison condition were not eligible to receive intervention services through the Guelph Family Health Study. Those families received monthly emails containing publicly available, general information on children’s health, such as the current Canadian physical activity guidelines. |
| Subgroups examined |
This field lists subgroups examined in the manuscript (even if they were not replicated in other samples and not reported on the summary page for this model’s report). There were no subgroups reported in this manuscript. |
| Funding sources | Not reported |
| Author affiliation | The study authors are affiliated with the University of Guelph, Harvard Medical School, and Massachusetts General Hospital. Authors affiliated with the University of Guelph are also the model developers. |
| Peer reviewed | Yes |
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT02223234. Study registration was assessed by HomVEE for Clinicaltrials.gov beginning with the 2014 review, and for other registries beginning with the 2021 review.
Findings that rate moderate or high
| Rating | Outcome measure | Effect | Sample | Timing of follow-up | Sample size | Intervention group | Comparison group | Group difference | Effect size | Statistical significance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | Frequency of family meals over the past week - 7 or more times |
FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect |
Guelph Family Health Study 4 home visits vs. control, Guelph Ontario, 2014-2016, Phase I sample |
6 months after enrollment |
28 families | Unadjusted proportion = 0.57 | Unadjusted proportion = 0.55 | Odds ratio = 0.36 | HomVEE calculated = -0.62 | Not statistically significant, p= 0.66 |
HomVEE calculated the effect size based on the study-reported odds ratio. |