Does additional support provided through e-mail or SMS in a Web-based Social Marketing program improve children's...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Behavioral Science
• Nutritional Science

Background:

• The FAN Social Marketing program aimed to enhance dietary and physical activity habits in families with children in Ticino, Switzerland.
• This study investigated how children's food intake was affected by different intervention groups within the FAN program.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the differential effects of various intervention delivery methods (Web, Web + email, Web + SMS) on children's dietary habits.
• To assess the impact of a social marketing intervention on children's consumption of fruits, vegetables, sweets, and other food items.

Main Methods:

• A Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) involving 608 children over 8 weeks.
• Intervention groups received tailored communication via Web, Web + email, or Web + SMS, with all children receiving print letters.
• Children's food consumption was measured using 7-day food diaries at baseline and post-intervention, analyzed with generalized linear mixed models.

Main Results:

• Significant increases in fruit consumption were observed across all groups, with notable changes in G1 (0.95 to 1.12) and G3 (0.93 to 1.18).
• Daily consumption of sweets decreased in all groups (G1: 1.67 to 1.56, G2: 1.71 to 1.49, G3: 1.72 to 1.62).
• A statistically significant positive change in vegetable consumption was found in G3 (1.13 to 1.21) compared to G1 (1.21 to 1.17).

Conclusions:

• Web-based social marketing combined with print letters effectively improved children's intake of fruits, water, and reduced sweets.
• Supplementing Web interventions with SMS yielded a minor but significant increase in vegetable consumption.
• Email as an adjunct to Web-based interventions did not produce significant differences in children's dietary habits.