A 2-arm cluster randomized controlled trial with pre-, during- and post-treatment measurements will be conducted in a school in Chennai (India) - Panchayat Union Middle School (PUMS), Katchipedu - to assess and quantify the longitudinal impact of a proposed Digital Vaccine candidate, called FYA-003®, on students' knowledge, behaviors and outcomes related to diet, physical activity and health hygiene. After following the protocol for recruitment and informed consent, the investigators will pair up grades in the school (site) in consecutive order, such as grades 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8, and randomly assign one grade in the pair to Group 1 and the other to Group 2. These pairs are assumed to be close to each other in age, maturity levels, health related knowledge, and exposure to mobile apps, hence appropriate for pairing up for the study.~A team of research staff located in Chennai will coordinate the execution of the experiment. After following the protocol for participation by the school administrator and staff, and the protocol for student recruitment and informed consent, the investigators will adopt a cluster-randomized trial design, where treatment assignment will be done at the grade level. Actual food choice, clinical measurements, survey data, and food logs will be collected by the site PI with support from a research project coordinator during weekly visits to the school. Game play data will be collected automatically whenever the mobile device is connected to the internet and will be downloaded to a secure server after the school visits. The research team will coordinate the gameplay timing with the school officials.
The primary aim of this study is to assess and quantify the longitudinal impact of a mobile App-based module - FYA-003 - which is a gamified health education module for children promoting nutrition, physical activity, health hygiene, and infectious disease risk reduction within the clinically proven app fooya!, on the dietary and physical activity habits, hygiene practices, clinical outcome measures, and related knowledge of children and their caregivers. The app will be delivered in the classroom setting through school-based health education.