Increasing Water Access and Appeal in Community Recreation Centers

A Randomized Trial of a Comprehensive Multi-level Intervention to Increase Water Access and Appeal in Community Recreation Centers

This study is a cluster randomized controlled trial with n=28 City of Philadelphia recreation centers (14 matched pairs) designed to determine the effectiveness of a comprehensive multi-level intervention to increase water access and appeal in community recreation centers on 1) center-level water intake as measured by water meters, and 2) purchase of outside beverages as measured by observations of recreation center youth.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Recreation center is located in a low-income neighborhood in the City of Philadelphia, defined by ≥20% of the residents in the zip code at or below Federal Poverty Level
• Recreation center includes both summer and after-school programming
• Recreation center is willing to comply with City of Philadelphia Healthy Vending standards and discourage sugar sweetened beverage consumption
• Recreation center has water lines appropriate for installing indoor hydration stations

Exclusion Criteria:

• Unwilling to accept randomization