Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The 2023-2024 W4003 annual meeting was held 05/13/2024 to 05/14/2024 in-person for three participants at Oregon State University in Corvalis, OR and virtually via Zoom online conferencing for eight participants. 

Attendees included:

Anderson, Alex (fianko@uga.edu), University of Georgia

Banna, Jinan (jcbanna@hawaii.edu), University of Hawaii @ Manoa

Gunther, Carolyn (Gunther.22@osu.edu), Ohio State University represented by Kyra Foster

Hopkins, Laura (lhopkins@bw.edu), Baldwin Wallace University

Jones, Blake (blake.jones@byu.edu), Brigham Young University

Lora, Karina (Klora@email.gwu.edu), George Washington University

Monroe-Lord, Lillie (lmonroelord@udc.edu), University of the District of Columbia 

Richards, Rickelle (Rickelle_richards@byu.edu), Brigham Young University

Shearrer, Grace (gshearre@uwyo.edu), University of Wyoming

Topham, Glade (gtopham@ksu.edu), Kansas State University

Wong, Siew Sun (Siewsun.wong@oregonstate.edu), Oregon State University

2024-2025 Chair (Grace Shearrer), 2024-2025 Chair-Elect (Blake Jones), 2024-2025 Secretary (Rickelle Richards), Past Chair (Laura Hopkins)

1. Membership Directory & W-5003 Appendix E reviewed

Our Membership Directory is updated on Google Drive to include active members with updated contact information. W-5003 Appendix E was reviewed. Jinan Banna is still having issues submitting Appendix E.

2. Bylaws

Bylaws were reviewed. Policies undergoing revision or being added included the Active Member Policy, Leave of Absence Policy, and Authorship Policy. These will be drafted and reviewed at the June monthly meeting.

3. Project Administrator Update

Dr. Bret Hess, Executive Director of the Western Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors business operations provided an update on NIFA funding for research initiatives and facilities, AFRI program priorities and impact reporting. He also discussed our W-5003 proposal and provided recommendations.

4. App Review Process

      Protocol and procedures for Rounds 1, 2, and 3 of the App Review were presented and discussed. Present team members broke out into small working groups to test the procedures and the team reconvened to compare experience, findings, and recommendations for protocol and procedure changes.

5. Addition of Digitech Expertise to W-5003

      Per the recommendations from Dr. Bret Hess, the team discussed potential members with Digitech expertise to invite to the W-5003 team.

6. Intervention Mapping Discussion

      The status of the intervention mapping procedures was discussed. The intervention mapping working group will reconvene and we will dedicate time during our summer monthly meetings to progress intervention mapping procedures.

7. Virtual Nutrition Education Process

      App Review protocols, procedures, and surveys were replicated and updated to reflect Virtual Nutrition Education. The team broke out into subgroups and tested Rounds 1 and 2 and Round 3 surveys, respectively. The team reconvened and discussed the Virtual Nutrition Education Process. We refined the definition of Virtual Nutrition Education, discussed the use of AI to identify available Virtual Nutrition Education resources, and debated limiting to Extension sponsored programming.

8. Leadership

Members nominated Grace Shearrer (Chair), Blake Jones (Chair-Elect), and Rickelle Richards (Secretary) to serve in leadership positions for 2024-2025 term. Laura Hopkins will serve as the Past Chair. We discussed holding the next annual meeting in May or June 2025 in-person and virtually to work on project objectives and manuscripts, and proposal development for extramural funding to support our work.

9. Annual meeting dates and locations for 2025

Members agreed to express preferences via a poll, followed by planning for the annual meeting based on preferred location and dates.

Background:

Current literature shows that the home food environment, including food parenting practices, influence and shape the dietary habits of adolescents (Vaughn et al., 2016; Yee et al., 2017; Zeigler et al., 2021). Most studies focused on dietary habits involving meals with family members under the supervision of adult caregivers. Less is known about how caregivers influence adolescent dietary intake during independent eating occasions (iEOs) when adult caregivers are not present. Several studies have identified associations between eating alone among adolescents, intake of high energy density foods including snacks, and overweight/obesity (Reicks et al., 2019; Shirasawa et al. 2018). Our group used pictorial and interview data from 51 low-income, multiethnic adolescents and parents to describe iEOs as primarily snacks (65%) characterized by fruit, sweets and dairy product consumption based on preferences and availability (Banna et al., 2020). Parent interview results indicated that setting expectations/rules and managing availability were the most common food parenting practices used to support healthy adolescent iEO intake (Gunther et al., 2019). Based on interviews we conducted with parents during the COVID-19 pandemic, about half reported greater adolescent iEO frequency and changes in foods available during iEOs, but most parents reported little change in parenting practices used to influence adolescent iEO intake (Gunther et al., in press). Our survey study identified associations between parenting practices and adolescent healthy and unhealthy iEO dietary intake among a sample of low-income, multiethnic parent/adolescent dyads (n = 622) (Reicks et al., in press). Structural (monitoring, indulgence, expectations) and autonomy support parenting practices were positively associated with both healthy and unhealthy iEO food intake by adolescents. Results indicate that interventions to improve adolescent iEO intake could promote positive practices associated with healthy food consumption such as FV intake.

References

Banna J, Richards R, Jones B, et al. Describing independent eating occasions among low-income adolescents. Int J Env Res Public Health. 2020;17(3):981. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17030981.

Gunther C, Reicks M, Banna J, et al. Food parenting practices that influence early adolescents’ food choices during independent eating occasions. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2019;51(8):993-1002. doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2019.05.597

Gunther C, Richards R, Banna J, et al. Adolescent independent eating occasions, dietary intake, and parenting practices during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study of parents and adolescents from low-income households. J Nutr Educ Behav. In press 5-1-23

Reicks M, Davey C, Anderson AK, et al. Frequency of eating alone is associated with adolescent dietary intake, perceived food-related parenting practices and weight status: Cross-sectional FLASHE Study Results. Public Health Nutr. 2019;22(9):1555-1566. doi: 10.1017/S1368980019000107.

Reicks M, Lora K, Jin, Y, et al. Associations among independent eating occasion-specific parenting practices and adolescent dietary intake during these occasions. J Acad Nutr Diet, in press 5-10-23

Shirasawa T, Ochiai H, Yoshimoto T, et al. Effects of eating dinner alone on overweight in Japanese adolescents: A cross-sectional survey. BMC Pediatr. 2018;18:36. doi:10.1186/s12887-018-1041-y

Vaughn AE, Ward DS, Fisher JO, et al. Fundamental constructs in food parenting practices: a content map to guide future research. Nutr Rev. 2016;74(2):98-117. doi: 10.1093/nutrit/nuv061

Yee AZH, Lwin MO, Ho SS. The influence of parental practices on child promotive and preventive food consumption behaviors: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2017;14(1):47.

Ziegler AM, Kasprzak CM, Mansouri TH, et al. An ecological perspective of food choice and eating autonomy among adolescents. Front Psychol. 2021;12:654139.

Zeinstra GG, Koelen MA, Kok FJ, et al. Parental child-feeding strategies in relation to Dutch children’s fruit and vegetable intake. Public Health Nutr. 2010;13(6):787-796.

Short-term Outcomes 

App Review Protocol:

Over the past year, we wrote a protocol and procedures for the App Review process. The procedures were modified from the Mauch et al (2018) and validated AQEL tool (DiFilippo et al, 2017) and aligned with our project objectives. Three rounds of review surveys were generated, pilot tested by students, and pilot tested by team members.

DiFilippo KN, Huang W-HD, Chapman-Novakofski KM. Mobile apps for the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH): App Quality Evaluation. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2018;50:620-625.

Mauch CE, Wycherley TP, Laws RA, et al. Mobile apps to support healthy family food provision: systemic assessment of popular commercially available apps. JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth 2018;6:e11867.

Survey data from parents and adolescents regarding food parenting practices and adolescent iEO intake:

Over the past year, we continued with survey data analysis and reporting regarding data from 622 low-income, multi-ethnic adolescent/parent dyads across the US. Detailed below are the statuses of several manuscripts from our team.

1. We conducted a descriptive analysis to examine associations between caregiver and adolescent sociodemographic factors and intake of SSBs, sugary foods, junk foods, and fruits and vegetables among a national sample of adolescents during IEOs. Findings suggest increased odds of SSB intake by Whites versus their Asian counterparts. Overweight/obese adolescents have increased odds, while older adolescents have decreased odds of sugary food intake compared to normal weight and younger adolescents, respectively. The manuscript titled "Associations between Sociodemographic Factors and Adolescent Food Consumption during Independent Eating Occasions" is under consideration for publication in the Ecology of Food and Nutrition.

2. We determined whether associations between parental sex and adolescents’ dietary intake during independent eating occasions (junk foods, sugary foods, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and fruits and vegetables) were mediated by food parenting practices. Findings indicate that parent monitoring mediated the association between parental sex and SSB intake and parental sex and fruit/vegetable intake. Indulgence mediated the association between parental sex and SSB intake and between parental sex and fruit and vegetable intake. A manuscript is under review in Public Health Nutrition.

3. We are examining the association between general parenting and food parenting and the association of both domains of parenting to child diet quality in independent eating occasions. Drafts of the introduction and methods have been developed and data are currently being analyzed

4. We are aiming to evaluate parenting practices during independent eating occasions by food security classification. We are currently working on formalizing the research hypotheses and then will conduct data analysis and manuscript writing. 

5. We are examining whether sleep differences are related to mental health outcomes (e.g., anxiety, inhibitory control) in a sample of adolescents. Mental health factors such as these have been linked to eating behaviors in previous research and we are assessing whether sleep might be related to those risk factors. We are currently working on preparing to conduct the analyses and are working on the literature review.

Intervention mapping:

We started preliminary work on the design of the intervention by employing the Intervention Mapping Protocol. First, we formulated proximal program objectives:

1. Improve the dietary quality of foods available in the home by significantly increasing the number of healthy foods and decreasing the number of less healthy foods available in the home over the past 7 days; p<0.05 (Santigo-Torres et al 2014);

1. Improve child diet quality during iEOs by significantly increasing Healthy Eating Index (HEI) scores and daily servings of fruits/vegetables to the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommendations (5/d) and significantly decreasing daily servings of sugar-sweetened beverages; p<0.05. (Department of Health and Human Services, 2020)

These program objectives developed/selected based on the current evidence demonstrating that ‘making healthy foods available’ is the most widely used food parenting practice by caregivers of early adolescents during iEOs, and it has exclusively positive effects on dietary choices during iEOs (i.e., greater fruit/vegetable intake) – as reported by both parents and adolescents – the target behavior of the intervention was selected to be: availability. Additional rationale for selecting availability include the relevance of availability vs other parenting practices (e.g., modeling) in the context of iEOs when parents are not with their child. The following program objectives were formulated based on the evidence linking availability of foods in the home with child diet quality during iEOs and overall.

The aforementioned Intervention Mapping Protocol work positions us to progress the intervention design in the year ahead. Specifically, we will create matrices containing the behavioral performance objectives relating to each of the program objectives (1 and 2 above) for each level of intervention: individual (child) and interpersonal (caregiver). After formulation of performance objectives, a list of personal determinants for each performance objective will be generated based on the theoretical foundation of this research (Social Cognitive Theory, SCT). We will then select personal determinants for children at the individual level and caregivers at the interpersonal level based on importance (i.e., strength of the association of the determinant with the behavior) and changeability (i.e., likelihood that the intervention may impact the determinant). We will then couple the performance objectives with the selected determinants, resulting in matrices of change objectives. The change objectives will state precisely what needs to change in the determinants’ behavioral outcomes in order to accomplish the performance objectives. They will be developed using action words and followed by a statement of what is expected to result from the intervention. Because two target groups are selected, two different matrices of change will be developed under each program objective. Next, we will select theory-based methods to influence change in the determinants at the individual (child) and interpersonal (caregiver) level based on the theoretical framework of the intervention (Social Cognitive Theory) and in reference to methods described by Bartholomew et al. (1998, 2011). A list of all change objectives linked with a specific determinant will be made, and the theoretical methods will then be matched with the corresponding determinant. Finally, practical strategies will be designed to put the theoretical methods into practice. 

W-5003 Proposal:

During the past year, our team prepared and submitted a W-5003 proposal. This proposal was a continuation of the W-4003 objectives with additional components, specifically including the integration of AI and digitech intervention procedures. The proposal was accepted without revision.

Milestones (2019-2024):

To develop and test a questionnaire with acceptable psychometric properties by fall 2021 (Completed spring 2020).

To implement the main survey by fall 2021 (Completed December 2021, based on a delay in implementation because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

To analyze survey data; evaluate results; determine parenting practices exhibiting most impact on early adolescents’ iEO intakes and behaviors, and develop manuscripts by spring 2022 (Data were analyzed and results reported in a paper in press 5-10-23).

To plan and develop digital communications intervention components based survey data such as parent and adolescent apps that serve as an organizing framework for virtual parent coaching/supervising, preparing snacks, and planning snacks by fall 2023 (Intervention mapping protocol underway 2022-2023 and progress is detailed above).

To design, implement, and evaluate a pilot intervention based on the digital communications developed by fall 2023 (Review of existing mobile apps underway with an expected completion date of summer 2024 prior to selecting several apps for testing. This milestone will likely be completed as part of a continuation proposal (W-5003) beginning Oct 2024).

To report results via manuscripts, develop draft grant proposals to implement the intervention among a broad range of participants by fall 2023 (This milestone will likely be completed as part of a continuation proposal (W-5003) beginning Oct 2024).

2023-2024 Publications: Peer-reviewed manuscripts now published or under review

Gunther C, Banna J, Jones BL, Park C, Reicks M, Richards R, Schier H, Topham GL, Wong SS, Anderson AK, Ballejos M, Hopkins LC, Lora KR, Monroe-Lord L. Adolescent Independent Eating Occasions, Dietary Intake, and Parenting Practices During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study of Parents and Adolescents From Households With Low Income. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2023 Sep;55(9):634-643. doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2023.05.001. Epub 2023 Jul 8. PMID: 37422758.

Reicks M, Lora KR, Jin Y, Anderson AK, Monroe-Lord L, Jones BL, Topham GL, Banna J, Gunther C, Hopkins LC, Richards R, Wong SS. Parenting Practices Are Associated With Adolescent Food Choices During Independent Eating Occasions. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2023 Oct;123(10):1479-1487.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2023.05.016. Epub 2023 May 23. PMID: 37196979.

Karina R. Lora, Grace Shearrer, Marla Reicks, Siew Sun Wong, Laura Hopkins Alex K. Anderson, Jinan Banna, Carolyn Gunther, Blake Jones, Lillie Monroe-Lord, Rickelle Richards, Glade Topham. Food parenting practices mediate relationships between parent sex and adolescent food intake during independent eating occasions. Under Review (May 2024) Pub Health Nut

Anderson AK Gunther C, Jones B, Lora K, Reicks M, Richards R, Shearrer G, Wong SS, Banna J, Hopkins L, Monroe-Lord L, Topham G. Associations between Sociodemographic Factors and Adolescent Food Consumption during Independent Eating Occasions. Under Review (April 2024) in Ecol Food Nutr.

Presentations

Karina R. Lora, Grace Shearrer, Marla Reicks, Siew Sun Wong, Laura Hopkins Alex K. Anderson, Jinan Banna, Carolyn Gunther, Blake Jones, Lillie Monroe-Lord, Rickelle Richards, Glade Topham. Food parenting practices mediate relationships between parent sex and adolescent food intake during independent eating occasions. American Society for Nutrition. Nutrition 2024 meeting, Chicago, IL.