N/A - Healthy SubjectsNCT06747780
Text Messaging Intervention on Happy Family Meal for Improving Family Communication and Well-being in Hong Kong Adults
A study testing Text messaging in people with N/A - Healthy Subjects, run by Dr. Wang Man-Ping.
Trial summary
Family meals are crucial for family communication and well-being. This text messaging intervention digitalizes Happy Family Kitchen II, a face-to-face community-based intervention previously shown to be effective. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- N/A - Healthy Subjects
- What is being tested?
- Text messaging
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 1,050 participants
- Where
- No sites listed yet
- Study dates
- 31 Dec 2024to 30 Sep 2025
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- are Hong Kong adults aged 18+ years who have at least one parent or children (aged 18+ years) other than their spouse in the family,
- can read Chinese,
- have access to SMS/MMS platform, and
- give informed consent (team leaders only).
Who cannot join
None listed.
Trial locations and contacts
No sites are listed yet. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
About this study
Family meals are crucial for family communication and well-being. This text messaging intervention digitalizes Happy Family Kitchen II, a face-to-face community-based intervention previously shown to be effective.
This is a two-arm, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial (RCT) designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a text messaging intervention aimed at promoting happy family meals among Hong Kong adults. Eligible participants are Hong Kong residents aged 18 or older, with at least one parent or child also aged 18 or older, who can read Chinese and have access to Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) platforms. A target of approximately 1,050 participants will be stratified by four types of family roles and negative emotional eating status and randomized to either the intervention group, receiving a digital booklet, text messages for two weeks, and two family-based activity boosters, or the waitlist control group. The content is based on five positive psychology themes: joy, gratitude, flow, savoring, and listening. Primary outcomes include improvement in family communication and well-being at three months post-intervention.
This study aims to assess the effectiveness of a digital intervention on family communication and well-being through the promotion of happy family meals. By leveraging information communication technologies (ICTs), this intervention offers a scalable and cost-effective approach, providing insights into the feasibility and effectiveness of digitizing community-based interventions.
Read the detailed description
Background:
Family meals are a cornerstone of family communication and well-being. Studies have shown that the benefits of quality family meals include not only nutritional intake but also improved family well-being (family health, happiness, harmony, i.e., the family 3Hs), with family communication quality playing a pivotal role. Urban lifestyles limit opportunities for family communication and gatherings, which are crucial to family bonding. Surveys have shown that Chinese individuals rarely heed their parents' advice on important matters and lack knowledge on positive family communication.
Information communication technologies (ICTs) diversify modes of family communication and offer intriguing opportunities to promote family communication and well-being. Leveraging ICTs in brief behavioral interventions can be impactful in influencing decision-making. Text messaging interventions have shown promise in smoking cessation, weight management, and medication adherence. Text messaging via SMS can provide practical suggestions for positive family communication and encourage participation in family meals with tailored messages specific to challenges faced by Hong Kong families, such as time constraints and conflicting schedules. Evidence from similar ICT-based interventions supports the potential effectiveness of text messaging in promoting family meals as a ubiquitous and easy-to-use medium. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) by Patrick et al. showed that text message reminders significantly improved dietary habits and meal planning among participants. A study by Fulkerson et al. showed that a web-based intervention for family meals led to increased family meal frequency and improved dietary outcomes.
Happy Family Kitchen (HFK I), Happy Family Kitchen II (HFK II), and Happy Family Kitchen Movement (HFKM) were community-based interventions under The FAMILY Project, which highlighted the effectiveness of face-to-face cooking and dining activities in improving family communication and well-being. As part of The Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project, the investigators aim to digitalize the Happy Family Kitchen initiative with the framework of five positive psychology themes: joy, gratitude, flow, savoring, and listening, providing a cost-effective and scalable approach. This trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a text messaging intervention on happy family meals for improving family communication and well-being in Hong Kong adults.
Hypothesis:
Higher scores in the family communication scale and family well-being for participants in the intervention group than the waitlist control group at three-month post-intervention.
Study Design:
This study is a two-arm, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial (RCT) aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of a text messaging intervention on promoting happy family meals to improve family communication and well-being among Hong Kong adults.
Randomization and Blinding:
Participants who meet the inclusion criteria will be randomly assigned to either the intervention group or the waitlist control group in a 1:1 ratio using computer-generated random numbers. The randomization will be stratified based on the Chinese Version of the Weight-Related Eating Questionnaire - Emotional Eating subscale (WREQ-EE) and four types of family roles:
- Children of the family aged 18 or above (whether living with parents or not, no children).
- Parents with children of the family under 18 years old.
- Parents with children of the family aged 18 or above (unmarried or living with parents).
- Parents with children of the family aged 18 or above (married or living independently).
The allocation concealment will be maintained by the researchers involved in recruitment and implementation, who will generate the list of participants completing the baseline questionnaire for randomization. Blinding will be applied to the data analysts and the participants.
Intervention Group:
Participants and their eligible family members in the intervention group will receive a digital booklet via MMS and daily text messages related to happy family meals via SMS for two weeks. The content of these messages will be based on five positive psychology themes: joy, gratitude, flow, savoring, and listening, adapted from the Happy Family Kitchen II project. Participants in the intervention group will receive notifications prompting them to join two family-based activities, adapted from the Happy Family Kitchen II project, as boosters at one-month and three-month after they receive the daily SMS, respectively.
Control Group:
Participants in the waitlist control group will not receive the intervention immediately but will be offered the same digital booklet, 14-day SMS intervention and two family-based activities boosters at three months post-intervention.
- Conditions
- N/A - Healthy Subjects
- Being tested
- Text messaging, Control (Usual care)
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Text messagingBehavioural
A digital booklet, text messages for two weeks, and two family-based activity boosters
Control (Usual care)Behavioural
Control only
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Intervention group | Experimental | Participants and their eligible family members in the intervention group will receive a digital booklet via MMS and daily text messages related to happy family meals via SMS for two weeks. The content of these messages will be based on five positive psychology themes: joy, gratitude, flow, savoring, and listening, adapted from the Happy Family Kitchen II project. Participants in the intervention group will receive notifications prompting them to join two family-based activities, adapted from the Happy Family Kitchen II project, as boosters at one-month and three-month after they receive the daily SMS, respectively. Receives: Behavioral: Text messaging |
| Waitlist control group | Other | Participants in the waitlist control group will not receive the intervention immediately but will be offered the same 14-day SMS intervention and two family-based activities three months post-intervention. Receives: Behavioral: Control (Usual care) |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Changes in family communication
Family communication will be assessed using the 10-item Family Communication Scale, which measures satisfaction with family communication, listening skills, expression of affection, and problem-solving abilities. Responses are scored on a five-point scale from 1 to 5, with total score ranging from 10 to 50 and higher scores indicating better communication.
Measured: Baseline, 3-month post-intervention
Changes in family well-being
Family well-being will be measured using three separate questions: "Do you think your family is harmonious/happy/healthy?", each asking respondents to rate their family health, happiness, or harmony on a scale from 0 to 10, with higher scores indicating better outcomes.
Measured: Baseline, 3-month post-intervention
Secondary outcomes (12)
Changes in family communication
Family communication will be assessed using the 10-item Family Communication Scale, which measures satisfaction with family communication, listening skills, expression of affection, and problem-solving abilities. Responses are scored on a five-point scale from 1 to 5, with higher scores indicating better communication, with total score ranging from 10 to 50 and higher scores indicating better communication.
Measured: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention
Changes in family well-being
Family well-being will be measured using three separate questions: "Do you think your family is harmonious/happy/healthy?", each asking respondents to rate their family health, happiness, or harmony on a scale from 0 to 10, with higher scores indicating better outcomes.
Measured: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention
Changes in family meal behavioral outcomes
Family meal behavioral outcomes will be measured using the duration of meals (minutes per meal) and the frequency of five positive psychology experiences (times per week) in the past 7 days.
Measured: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Changes in symptoms of anxiety and depression
Symptoms of anxiety and depression will be assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4). Respondents will indicate the frequency of the described symptoms over the previous two weeks using a 4-point Likert scale from 0 (not at all) to 3 (nearly every day). The total score of each subscale ranges from 0 to 6, with higher scores indicating worse outcomes.
Measured: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Changes in personal happiness
Personal happiness will be measured by asking, "How happy do you think you are?" with responses from 0 (very unhappy) to 10 (very happy).
Measured: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Changes in personal xingfu
Personal xingfu will be measured by asking, 'How xingfu do you think you are?' with responses from 0 to 10 and higher score indicating better personal xingfu.
Measured: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Changes in family xingfu
Family xingfu will be measured by asking, 'How xingfu do you think your family xingfu is?' with responses from 0 to 10 and higher score indicating better family xingfu.
Measured: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Changes in family communication quality
Family communication quality will be measured by having respondents rate the quality of communication between themselves and their family members on an 11-point scale (0-10), with higher scores indicating better family communication quality.
Measured: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Changes in healthiness of diet
The healthiness of the diet will be measured by respondents rating their diet healthiness on an 11-point scale (0-10), with higher scores indicating healthier diet.
Measured: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Changes in physical activity
Physical activity will be measured by having respondents rate their physical activity on an 11-point scale (0-10), with higher scores indicating more sufficient physical activity.
Measured: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Changes in Weight-Related Eating Questionnaire - Emotional Eating subscale
The Weight-Related Eating Questionnaire Emotional Eating subscale (WREQ-EE) will be used to assess emotional eating on a scale of 1 to 5, with total scores ranging from 4 to 20 and higher scores indicating worse emotional eating.
Measured: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Process evaluation
Process evaluation will be measured using a perceived benefits question, an assessment of whether the messages were read, and by asking respondents to rate the importance, confidence, and difficulty of happy family meal on 11-point scales (0-10), with higher score indicating better outcomes.
Measured: 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted24 Dec 2024
- Study start31 Dec 2024 (estimated)
- Primary completion1 May 2025 (estimated)
- Study completion30 Sep 2025 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for N/A - Healthy SubjectsStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind
- Who is masked
- Participant
- Enrolment
- 1,050 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Dr. Wang Man-Ping
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust
- Responsible party
- Sponsor-investigator, Dr. Wang Man-Ping, The University of Hong Kong
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06747780
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- JCSFLP2-TMI
- Status last verified
- Dec 2024
- First submitted
- 12 Dec 2024
- Last updated
- 31 Dec 2024
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- Yes
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 31 Dec 2024. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Text Messaging Intervention on Happy Family Meal for Improving Family Communication and Well-being in Hong Kong Adults
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06747780
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- JCSFLP2-TMI
- Conditions
- N/A - Healthy Subjects
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Not yet recruiting
- Enrolment
- 1,050 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- Dr. Wang Man-PingUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust
- Study start
- 31 Dec 2024 (estimated)
- Primary completion
- 1 May 2025 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 30 Sep 2025 (estimated)
- First posted
- 24 Dec 2024 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Family meals are crucial for family communication and well-being. This text messaging intervention digitalizes Happy Family Kitchen II, a face-to-face community-based intervention previously shown to be effective.
This is a two-arm, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial (RCT) designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a text messaging intervention aimed at promoting happy family meals among Hong Kong adults. Eligible participants are Hong Kong residents aged 18 or older, with at least one parent or child also aged 18 or older, who can read Chinese and have access to Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) platforms. A target of approximately 1,050 participants will be stratified by four types of family roles and negative emotional eating status and randomized to either the intervention group, receiving a digital booklet, text messages for two weeks, and two family-based activity boosters, or the waitlist control group. The content is based on five positive psychology themes: joy, gratitude, flow, savoring, and listening. Primary outcomes include improvement in family communication and well-being at three months post-intervention.
This study aims to assess the effectiveness of a digital intervention on family communication and well-being through the promotion of happy family meals. By leveraging information communication technologies (ICTs), this intervention offers a scalable and cost-effective approach, providing insights into the feasibility and effectiveness of digitizing community-based interventions.
Detailed description
Background:
Family meals are a cornerstone of family communication and well-being. Studies have shown that the benefits of quality family meals include not only nutritional intake but also improved family well-being (family health, happiness, harmony, i.e., the family 3Hs), with family communication quality playing a pivotal role. Urban lifestyles limit opportunities for family communication and gatherings, which are crucial to family bonding. Surveys have shown that Chinese individuals rarely heed their parents' advice on important matters and lack knowledge on positive family communication.
Information communication technologies (ICTs) diversify modes of family communication and offer intriguing opportunities to promote family communication and well-being. Leveraging ICTs in brief behavioral interventions can be impactful in influencing decision-making. Text messaging interventions have shown promise in smoking cessation, weight management, and medication adherence. Text messaging via SMS can provide practical suggestions for positive family communication and encourage participation in family meals with tailored messages specific to challenges faced by Hong Kong families, such as time constraints and conflicting schedules. Evidence from similar ICT-based interventions supports the potential effectiveness of text messaging in promoting family meals as a ubiquitous and easy-to-use medium. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) by Patrick et al. showed that text message reminders significantly improved dietary habits and meal planning among participants. A study by Fulkerson et al. showed that a web-based intervention for family meals led to increased family meal frequency and improved dietary outcomes.
Happy Family Kitchen (HFK I), Happy Family Kitchen II (HFK II), and Happy Family Kitchen Movement (HFKM) were community-based interventions under The FAMILY Project, which highlighted the effectiveness of face-to-face cooking and dining activities in improving family communication and well-being. As part of The Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project, the investigators aim to digitalize the Happy Family Kitchen initiative with the framework of five positive psychology themes: joy, gratitude, flow, savoring, and listening, providing a cost-effective and scalable approach. This trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a text messaging intervention on happy family meals for improving family communication and well-being in Hong Kong adults.
Hypothesis:
Higher scores in the family communication scale and family well-being for participants in the intervention group than the waitlist control group at three-month post-intervention.
Study Design:
This study is a two-arm, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial (RCT) aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of a text messaging intervention on promoting happy family meals to improve family communication and well-being among Hong Kong adults.
Randomization and Blinding:
Participants who meet the inclusion criteria will be randomly assigned to either the intervention group or the waitlist control group in a 1:1 ratio using computer-generated random numbers. The randomization will be stratified based on the Chinese Version of the Weight-Related Eating Questionnaire - Emotional Eating subscale (WREQ-EE) and four types of family roles:
- Children of the family aged 18 or above (whether living with parents or not, no children).
- Parents with children of the family under 18 years old.
- Parents with children of the family aged 18 or above (unmarried or living with parents).
- Parents with children of the family aged 18 or above (married or living independently).
The allocation concealment will be maintained by the researchers involved in recruitment and implementation, who will generate the list of participants completing the baseline questionnaire for randomization. Blinding will be applied to the data analysts and the participants.
Intervention Group:
Participants and their eligible family members in the intervention group will receive a digital booklet via MMS and daily text messages related to happy family meals via SMS for two weeks. The content of these messages will be based on five positive psychology themes: joy, gratitude, flow, savoring, and listening, adapted from the Happy Family Kitchen II project. Participants in the intervention group will receive notifications prompting them to join two family-based activities, adapted from the Happy Family Kitchen II project, as boosters at one-month and three-month after they receive the daily SMS, respectively.
Control Group:
Participants in the waitlist control group will not receive the intervention immediately but will be offered the same digital booklet, 14-day SMS intervention and two family-based activities boosters at three months post-intervention.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind (participant)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Intervention group | Experimental | Behavioral: Text messagingParticipants and their eligible family members in the intervention group will receive a digital booklet via MMS and daily text messages related to happy family meals via SMS for two weeks. The content of these messages will be based on five positive psychology themes: joy, gratitude, flow, savoring, and listening, adapted from the Happy Family Kitchen II project. Participants in the intervention group will receive notifications prompting them to join two family-based activities, adapted from the Happy Family Kitchen II project, as boosters at one-month and three-month after they receive the daily SMS, respectively. |
| Waitlist control group | Other | Behavioral: Control (Usual care)Participants in the waitlist control group will not receive the intervention immediately but will be offered the same 14-day SMS intervention and two family-based activities three months post-intervention. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (4 listed)
- are Hong Kong adults aged 18+ years who have at least one parent or children (aged 18+ years) other than their spouse in the family,
- can read Chinese,
- have access to SMS/MMS platform, and
- give informed consent (team leaders only).
Key exclusion criteria (0 listed)
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Text messagingA digital booklet, text messages for two weeks, and two family-based activity boosters | Behavioural | Intervention group |
| Control (Usual care)Control only | Behavioural | Waitlist control group |
Primary outcome
Changes in family communication
Time frame: Baseline, 3-month post-intervention
Family communication will be assessed using the 10-item Family Communication Scale, which measures satisfaction with family communication, listening skills, expression of affection, and problem-solving abilities. Responses are scored on a five-point scale from 1 to 5, with total score ranging from 10 to 50 and higher scores indicating better communication.
Changes in family well-being
Time frame: Baseline, 3-month post-intervention
Family well-being will be measured using three separate questions: "Do you think your family is harmonious/happy/healthy?", each asking respondents to rate their family health, happiness, or harmony on a scale from 0 to 10, with higher scores indicating better outcomes.
12 secondary outcomes
Changes in family communication
Time frame: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention
Changes in family well-being
Time frame: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention
Changes in family meal behavioral outcomes
Time frame: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Changes in symptoms of anxiety and depression
Time frame: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Changes in personal happiness
Time frame: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Changes in personal xingfu
Time frame: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Changes in family xingfu
Time frame: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Changes in family communication quality
Time frame: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Changes in healthiness of diet
Time frame: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Changes in physical activity
Time frame: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Changes in Weight-Related Eating Questionnaire - Emotional Eating subscale
Time frame: Baseline, 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Process evaluation
Time frame: 1-month post-intervention and 3-month post-intervention
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 31 Dec 2024.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Text messaging in people with N/A - Healthy Subjects, run by Dr. Wang Man-Ping.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 4 inclusion and 0 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: opening soon, as of the sponsor's last update on 31 Dec 2024. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
Contact Man Ping Wang, PhD ((852) 39176636, mpwang@hku.hk), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Changes in family communication (time frame: Baseline, 3-month post-intervention). The study lists 2 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 31 Dec 2024.