Clinical trials

The goal of this clinical trial is to understand if monthly food support increases food security in food insecure households. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Does monthly food support increase household food security? * Does monthly food support reduce stress, increase dietary diversity, and improve self-reported wellness in recipients? Researchers will compare households receiving monthly food support to households that do not receive study-related food support. Participants will complete questionnaires regarding food insecurity, stress, wellness, and dietary diversity at baseline and after 3 months.

Alaska Native children experience a high burden of respiratory disease, especially those in the Yukon-Kuskokwim (YK) Delta. Studies have shown that things like wood stove use, poor ventilation, and indoor tobacco smoke exposure can lead to poor indoor air quality inside the children's homes. This leads to more frequent and more severe respiratory infections in children. In the Yukon-Kuskokwim (YK) Delta, it's common for homes to have exposure to woodstoves and tobacco use. Both of these activities affect indoor air quality in homes. We know that high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) purifiers can reduce particulate matter and make air quality better. One way that we measure air quality is through particulate matter (PM2.5). One of the few studies that looked at this in the YK Delta found that PM2.5 levels that were nearly twice as high as homes with woodstoves in other states. We believe it is important to reduce the PM2.5 in YK Delta homes. However, the few studies that looked at HEPA purifiers in rural Alaska did not include homes where smokers lived. We know that breathing air with PM2.5 harms the lungs. We also know that HEPA filters can reduce PM2.5, which can mean reducing cough and wheeze in people with chronic lung conditions. We want to learn how HEPA filters work in homes with woodstoves or where a smoker lives, as it's likely these homes may have more PM2.5 than other homes. We expect that using HEPA filters will make the indoor air better and will mean decreased respiratory symptoms. We plan to include 15 households with a child less than 5 years old in the family. Households that join will be asked to: * Set up study equipment in their homes. * Run the study equipment for 12 weeks and do a weekly report of child's respiratory symptoms by phone or text. * Return the air-quality monitor equipment to the study team and keep the HEPA filters.

The preschool age is a crucial period of growth and an optimal time to begin to establish healthy eating and physical activity habits leading to better food and activity choices into adulthood, thereby minimizing risk for obesity-related diseases and decreasing the cardiometabolic disparities in this Indigenous population. More Outside Your Door is a multi-level, randomized, stepped-wedge intervention trial designed to reduce the disparity of childhood obesity in Yup'ik Alaska Native children by increasing the proportion of nutrient-dense traditional and traditional-like foods offered and increasing physical activity, particularly outdoor activities related to traditional Yup'ik subsistence and lifestyle practices. This 5-year intervention trial targeting 3-5 year olds is conducted in partnership with Rural Action Community Action Program Head Start programs in 12 rural Alaskan communities, where each site is assigned annually to a wedge group to receive either a community-altered culturally-tailored 8-month traditional foods and activities curriculum intervention or the standard regional Head Start program intervention.