Can mapping a Coalition's connections boost child health?
NCT ID NCT07804550
First seen Sep 04, 2026 · Last updated Sep 04, 2026
Summary
Community coalitions bring together residents and organizations to improve child health, but they often need support to put research-backed strategies into practice. This pilot study tests whether a program called FICAS, which uses information about relationships within a coalition to guide decision-making, can be delivered successfully and is useful to members. Three coalitions will participate, with one receiving Catalyzing Communities alone, one receiving Catalyzing Communities plus FICAS, and one starting later. The study will help determine whether FICAS and the study procedures should be refined and tested in a larger trial.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- FICAS implementation intervention and Catalyzing Communities platform
- What this could lead to
- If FICAS proves useful, it could help community coalitions more effectively adopt evidence-based strategies to improve child health and prevent obesity.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small pilot study with only three coalitions, so results may not apply broadly. The intervention is complex and may not be acceptable or feasible in other settings.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 3,300 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Expected to start
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Jan 2027
An estimate. Start dates often move.
- Expected to finish
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Jun 2029
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Accepted
You do not need to have the condition being studied to take part.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria Coalition-level criteria * Coalition focuses on child health, childhood obesity prevention, healthy eating, active living, nutrition security, policy, systems, or environmental change, or related community health priorities. * Coalition works in or serves a community experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage. * Coalition has multisector participation. * Coalition has identifiable leadership or backbone capacity to participate in the study. * Coalition is willing to participate in study procedures and data collection and accept randomized coalition-level assignment. * Coalition has a feasible membership roster or is able to work with the study team to construct one and has an identifiable leadership contact. * Coalition can support participant recruitment and scheduling without coercing individual participation. Individual-level criteria * Age 18 years or older. * Coalition member, leader, staff member, partner, changemaker, committee or core-group participant, named network connection, survey-only participant, invited guest, or other adult with relevant community, organizational, policy, professional, or implementation expertise or connections. * Able to provide informed consent. * Able to participate in English. * For direct committee or core-group participants, able to participate through the internet, telephone, or another study-supported mode. * Willing to complete the study activities applicable to the participant's role, which may include meetings, surveys, network assessments, or interviews. Exclusion Criteria Coalition-level criteria * Coalition is unable to participate in required study activities. * Coalition lacks a feasible membership roster or the ability to construct one with study-team assistance, or lacks an identifiable leadership contact. * Coalition is unwilling to accept randomized coalition-level assignment. * Coalition is participating in a comparable formal coalition intervention that would prevent interpretation of the study findings. Individual-level criteria * Younger than 18 years. * Unable to provide informed consent. * Unable to participate in English. * Does not have an eligible coalition, professional, community, organizational, policy, or implementation role, expertise, or connection. * For direct committee or core-group participants, unable to participate through an available study-supported mode. * Participation would create an unmanaged conflict or undue pressure that cannot be resolved.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15216, United States
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