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OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT03383029

iEAT 2.0 Open Trial

The purpose of this study is to learn more about the eating behaviors of children with chronic food refusal. Specifically, investigator's aim to see how the integrated Eating Aversion Treatment (iEAT) may affect a child's food consumption. The manual is a structured multidisciplinary treatment, including a psychologist and dietitian with consultation from a speech-language pathologist. The treatment is designed to increase the volume of foods a child eats and decrease their reliance on a feeding tube or formula. The manual includes informational handouts, data collection forms, and instructions to guide the increase in feeding demands while reducing reliance on formula to meet a child's nutritional needs.

Children with chronic food refusal will participate in this study at the Marcus Autism Center. All children who enroll will receive the iEAT treatment. This involves 10 bi-weekly sessions that last approximately one hour, over the course of 5 months and a 1 month follow-up visit. Therefore, the study will last a total of 6 months.

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Key information

Conditions

Gastrointestinal Disorders Behavior Digestive System Diseases Gastrointestinal Diseases

Age range

12 month–6 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta

Atlanta, Georgia, 30322, United States

About this study

This study seeks to further the development of iEAT by including participants that demonstrated improvements in a previously conducted pilot study, and finalize the treatment manual to include the standardized decision rules to increase feeding demands, further integrate the multidisciplinary team (nutrition and speech pathology), and include supplementary sessions to better address individual treatment needs.

Investigators propose to enroll participants with chronic food refusal and formula or feeding tube dependence. Treatment will involve 10 biweekly outpatient appointments and 1 follow-up appointment of about 1 hour in length. Assessment and treatment will involve a multidisciplinary team including behavioral psychology, speech pathology and nutrition. Target behaviors including grams consumed, percent dependence on formula/feeding tube, and the clinical global impression scale, which will be assessed during a meal observation, 3-day food record, and evaluation with the dietitian and independent evaluator. Participants will be assessed pre-treatment, mid-treatment, and post-treatment and complete a one month follow-up to assess long term effects.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Present with partial food refusal as evidenced by greater than 75% of caloric needs met by bottle, formula, or tube feedings
  • Have a medical history significant for an organic factor (e.g., gastrointestinal issues) which influenced the development of feeding concern
  • Safe to consume up to 100% of his/her needs orally
  • Parents of subjects must be English literate
  • Ability to complete at least 2 structured meals each day

Exclusion criteria

  • Active medical diagnoses requiring hospitalization or significant oversight from a physician
  • Active medical, structural, or functional limitations preventing safe oral intake of pureed foods

Treatment and study plan

iEAT Program

Behavioral

The iEAT Program is a six-month long behavioral intervention consisting of 10 biweekly outpatient appointments of about 1 hour in length. The iEAT manual will guide behavioral intervention targeting severe feeding disorders and will involve some combination of escape extinction, reinforcement, and antecedent manipulation of food presentation to lessen the aversive quality of the meal.

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in Percent Oral Intake

    Time frame: Baseline, Post-Intervention (Week 20)

    Oral intake will be assessed through the three-day food diary on which parents will record the child's daily intake. The percent of needs consumed orally will be reported.

  2. Change in Total Oral Grams Consumed During Meal

    Time frame: Baseline, Post-Intervention (Week 20)

    Total oral grams consumed during a meal will be rated by trained observers captured by the meal observation form and collected during study visits.

  3. Change in Percent Needs Met by Formula or Feeding Tube

    Time frame: Baseline, Post-Intervention (Week 20)

    Formula and feeding tube intake will be assessed through the three-day food diary on which parents will record the child's daily intake. The percent of needs consumed via bottle or tube will be reported.

  4. Clinical Global Impression Scale - Improvement (CGI-I) Score

    Time frame: Post-Intervention (Week 20)

    The CGI-I is a seven-point scale measure of overall change from baseline. Scores will be ranked from 1 (Very Much Improved) through 4 (Unchanged) to 7 (Very Much Worse). Scores of "Much Improved" or "Very Much Improved" will be used to define positive responses; all other scores will indicate negative responses. Total scores range from 1 to 7; where 1 indicates the most improvement and 7 indicates greatest worsening.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Change in Parenting Stress Index (PSI) Score

    Time frame: Baseline, Post-Intervention (Week 20)

    The PSI is a 36-item measure completed by a parent or caregiver designed to screen for stress in the parent-child relationship, identifying dysfunctional parenting and child adjustment problems. Raw scores are converted into percentile scores. A score which falls between the 15th and 80th percentile is considered typical. High scores are those at or above the 85th percentile.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Emory University

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Evaluation of the Feasibility and Preliminary Efficacy of the Parent-Mediated Integrated Eating Aversion Treatment (iEAT) Manual

Important dates

Study start
2017
Primary completion
2019
Study completion
2019
First posted
Dec 26, 2017
Registry last updated
Jun 21, 2019

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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