The Play With Me Study

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: High Food Reinforcement, Overeating, Obesity, Childhood

In brief

The obesity epidemic continues to be a major public health concern, with 38% of US adults and 17% of children obese. One factor that has been highlighted as a robust predictor of weight outcomes is the relative reinforcing value (RRV) of food, or how rewarding one finds eating compared to alternative activities. An emerging body of literature has built upon the observed relationship between the RRV of food and weight by hypothesizing that the promotion of alternative reinforcers, or rewarding activities that could take the place of eating, offers a novel approach to decreasing excess energy intake and combatting obesity. We aim to integrate distinct bodies of literature and fill a gap in the evidence by testing whether parenting intervention messages delivered and practiced in the context of shared activities can decrease the RRV of food by making parent-child interactions more rewarding. The ultimate goal of this research is to demonstrate that such an intervention can increase children's motivation to interact with their parent instead of eating a favorite food, demonstrating the potential for positive parent-child interactions to become an alternative source of pleasure.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT04280198

Run by

State University of New York at Buffalo

People needed

33

Starts

2020-02-26

Expected to finish

2022-06-20

Last updated by the study team

2022-08-09

Who can join

Age: 4 and older, up to 5. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Child is 4-5 years old
• Parent/guardian is 18 years of age or older
• Child is not diagnosed with a serious physical or mental health condition that precludes participation
• At least one of the child's parents/guardians are overweight/obese based on self-reported height and weight. This is intended to facilitate recruitment of children at risk for obesity, given the overarching goals of this research.
• Parent and child are English speaking

You may not qualify if…

• The child is outside the age range of 4-5 years
• Child is diagnosed with a serious physical or mental health condition that precludes participation
• Parent/guardian <18 years old
• None of the child's parents/legal guardians overweight/obese based on self-reported height and weight
• Parent or child not English speaking

Where it is running

• State University of New York at Buffalo — Buffalo, New York, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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