# weSipSmarter: An efficacy trial to reduce sugary beverages among rural Head Start parent-child dyads

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA · 2024 · $670,209

## Abstract

Project Summary: Sugary drinks are the largest single source of calories in the US diet and contribute
approximately 8% and 7% of total energy intake for US youth and adults, respectively. Unfortunately, the
prevalence of daily sugary drink intake is significantly higher in nonmetropolitan US counties, relative to
metropolitan counties (adjusted prevalence ratio = 1.32). Also, an estimated 47% of children age 2-5 consume
sugary drinks daily. High sugary drink intake contributes to the development of numerous chronic conditions,
including cancer. Despite convincing data on risky sugary drink behaviors in rural counties and among
preschool-aged children, there are substantial gaps in the intervention literature. For example, few sugary drink
interventions have targeted the needs of US rural regions, few have effectively used scalable technology to
reduce child’s sugary drinks, and most fail to report on external validity factors. Our application addresses
these needs and builds on our team’s extensive digital Health expertise and successful sugary drink research
within rural communities. We target Head Starts across defined rural areas (i.e., RUCC 4-9) in Appalachia and
the southern Black Belt. Our proposed intervention targets parents as the agent of change and aims to improve
parent-child dyad outcomes. Phase 1 is guided by the Adaptome framework. In partnership with rural Head
Start staff and parents, we will apply a user-centered design process to adapt our existing evidence-based
sugary drink interventions to a digital intervention. This new program, called weSIPsmarter, will be a highly
interactive, structured program consisting of multiple evidence-based behavioral change components,
including use of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to encourage self-monitoring of beverage behaviors
and parenting feeding practices, action planning, a resource help line, and drinking water vouchers for families
with concerns related to in-home tap water quality. Phase 2 is guided by RE-AIM and includes a 2 group
cluster RCT design [weSIPsmarter vs. control] with 3 assessment (pre, 9-week post, and 12-month follow-up)
periods. We propose to randomize 12 Head Start center clusters with an average of 31 parent-child dyads per
cluster (total of 372 parent-child dyads). We hypothesize that weSIPsmarter will be more efficacious at
reducing sugary drink consumption than control. Changes in secondary outcomes will also be evaluated,
including parent-child dyad outcomes (e.g., diet quality, water, BMI, QOL, behavioral theory constructs) and
maintenance at 12-months post intervention. Additional secondary aims include to examine reach, describe
parent engagement, and apply a mixed-methods process evaluation to evaluate adoption and implementation
among Head Starts. We also aim to explore mediators and moderators (e.g., social determinant of health
indicators) to engagement and efficacy outcomes and to explore organizational-level maintenance. The long-
term goal o...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10876786
- **Project number:** 1R01CA282436-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Jamie Zoellner
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $670,209
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-02-01 → 2029-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10876786

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10876786, weSipSmarter: An efficacy trial to reduce sugary beverages among rural Head Start parent-child dyads (1R01CA282436-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10876786. Licensed CC0.

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