Clinical Trial: Growing Resilience in Wind River Indian Reservation

Study Status: Recruiting
Recruit Status: Recruiting
Study Type: Interventional

Official Title: Growing Resilience: an RCT on the Health Impact of Gardens With Wind River Indian Reservation

Brief Summary: The Growing Resilience research leverages reservation-based assets of land, family, culture, and front-line tribal health organizations to develop and evaluate home food gardens as a family-based health promotion intervention to reduce disparities suffered by Native Americans in nearly every measure of health. Home gardening interventions show great promise for enabling families to improve their health, and this study aims to fulfill that promise with university and Wind River Indian Reservation partners. The investigators will develop an empowering, scalable, and sustainable family-based health promotion intervention with, by, and for Native American families and conduct the first RCT to assess the health impacts of home gardens.

Detailed Summary:

The intervention is comprised of designing and providing two years of support for home gardens. Families randomized to intervention will receive the following supports and services:

  1. Blue Mountain Associates will host a gardening workshop to include crop planning, receipt of customized guides to the crops the family selects (these are currently in development and will be ready by 2015), and hands-on basic skills training (mid-April). CHRs and interested local healthcare providers will also participate in workshops to help them prepare for supporting gardeners.
  2. BMA's garden manager and assistant(s) will visit each family to help the family install a garden and will provide the family with all needed supplies (late April to early May). Based on garden harvest measures collected in the Food Dignity project and the large gardens preferred by families in the pilot, the minimum garden size will be 80 sq. ft. with at least 30 sq. ft. devoted to crops other than corn and potatoes. The manager will design at least part of each garden in a way that allows the least physically able family members to participate in gardening.
  3. BMA will host a Facebook support and networking group for gardeners, with ARI, BMA, and UW gardening experts providing advice as needed.
  4. BMA's staff will visit each gardening family at least twice more during the growing season and will be available throughout the season for phone consultations and Facebook advice. For all years, the BMA garden manager will track actual intervention support provided to each family (e.g., timing and number of visits, training and supplies provided).

The University of Wyoming research team will collect health measures before and at the end o
Sponsor: University of Wyoming

Current Primary Outcome: Adult BMI change [ Time Frame: Change from baseline at 2 years ]

With four data points, every 6 months. Researcher-measured height (stadiometer) and Tanita body composition scale.


Original Primary Outcome: Same as current

Current Secondary Outcome:

  • Mental Health change [ Time Frame: Change from baseline at 2 years ]
    measured by SF12 survey
  • Physical Health change [ Time Frame: Change from baseline at 2 years ]
    measured by SF12 survey
  • Food security change [ Time Frame: Change from baseline at 2 years ]
    measured by sub-set of USDA survey
  • Self-efficacy in gardening change [ Time Frame: Change from baseline at 2 years ]
    by survey
  • Pain change [ Time Frame: Change from baseline at 2 years ]
    by survey
  • Blood pressure change [ Time Frame: Change from baseline at 2 years ]
    researcher-measured with bp monitor
  • hand strength change [ Time Frame: Change from baseline at 2 years ]
    researcher-measured with dynamometer
  • waist circumference change [ Time Frame: Change from baseline at 2 years ]
    researcher-measured with spring-loaded tape measure
  • beta-carotene change [ Time Frame: Change from baseline at 2 years ]
    whole blood draw and assay
  • Hb A1C change [ Time Frame: Change from baseline at 2 years ]
    whole blood draw and assay
  • cholesterol change [ Time Frame: Change from baseline at 2 years ]
    whole blood draw and assay
  • triglycerides change [ Time Frame: Change from baseline at 2 years ]
    whole blood draw and assay
  • vitamin D change [ Time Frame: Change from baseline at 2 years ]
    whole blood draw and assay
  • child BMI z-score change [ Time Frame: Change from baseline at 2 years ]


Original Secondary Outcome: Same as current

Information By: University of Wyoming

Dates:
Date Received: November 9, 2015
Date Started: November 2015
Date Completion: October 2020
Last Updated: May 1, 2017
Last Verified: May 2017