Parents and Children Active Together Study

NCT03055871 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 704959
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 240
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to examine physical activity habit formation in parents and if this can increase moderate to vigorous physical activity behavior in their children over six months.The Primary Research Question is: Does the habit formation condition result in increased moderate-vigorous intensity physical activity of the child compared to the control (education) and education + planning conditions at six months? Hypothesis: Child physical activity will be higher for the habit formation condition in comparison to the more standard physical activity education and planning conditions at six months.

Conditions

Physical Activity

Keywords

Behavioural: Family physical activity habit

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change from baseline in children's physical activity to 6 months

  Children's physical activity will be quantified by accelerometry. Children will wear an accelerometer for a minimum of 6 hours per day for 7 days at baseline and 6 months. Additionally this measure will assess intermediate outcomes at 6 weeks and 3 months.

  Baseline and 6 months

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Change from baseline to 6 months in child physical activity by parent proxy self-report

  Baseline and 6 months

• Change from baseline in self-reported parental co-activity habit to 6 months

  Baseline and 6 months

Other Outcomes (11)

• TERTIARY OUTCOME - Change from baseline in parent physical activity to 6 months

  Baseline and 6 months

• TERTIARY OUTCOME - Change from baseline to 6 months in self-reported parent physical activity

  Baseline and 6 months

• TERTIARY OUTCOME - Change from baseline in self-reported parent-child co-activity to 6 months

  Baseline and 6 months

Study Arms (3)

Standard education control group

NO INTERVENTION

The control group package will consist of Canada's PA guidelines recommending 180 min per week for young children, transitioning to 60 minutes of activity a day for children at five and a breakdown of ways for the parent to help their child achieve this PA (unstructured, endurance, strength, activities) commensurate with this guide. The guide also contains arguments and information about the benefits of PA.

Physical activity planning intervention

OTHER

The physical activity planning intervention condition will receive the same guidelines as the standard education control group but will also be provided with family physical activity planning material. This material will include workbook on how to plan for family physical activity; brainstorming exercise for children where they list physical activities that they have found fun in the past, as well as activities that they would find enjoyable to do as a family.

Behavioral: Physical activity planning intervention

Habit formation intervention

OTHER

The habit formation intervention condition will receive the same content as the education control condition and the physical activity planning condition but with additional material on creating physical activity support habits. The material includes a brief discussion of what habits are with some very straightforward examples such as preparing for sleep routines, or initiating to drive a car to work. A key component of the habit section will be based on planning for context-dependent repetition, with pointers on how to maintain repetition as habit forms.

Behavioral: Habit formation intervention

Interventions

Habit formation intervention BEHAVIORAL

In addition to the control content and the planning content, this intervention will include material provided to the family that assists with creating physical activity support habits. The material contains a discussion of what habits are, straightforward examples, planning and pointers for forming habits. A key component of the habit intervention will be planning for context-dependent repetition.

Habit formation intervention

Physical activity planning intervention BEHAVIORAL

This arm will receive the control education content, but will also be provided with family PA planning material. This material will include skill training content (workbook on how to plan for family PA). The material includes a brainstorming exercise for parents where they list physical activities they think their children have found fun in the past, as well as activities that they would find enjoyable to do as a family. We also have Canadian parental survey data on the most preferred co-physical activities for children 3-6. We will provide this material as prompts/suggestions. This list helps create the template for PA planning by contextualizing what the parents would like to do with their kids.

Physical activity planning intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 3 Years - 5 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• Participants will be at least one parent with at least one child between the ages of 3 and 5 years. Families will reside in greater Victoria, British Columbia. Parents can be single parents or co-parents (i.e. we only require one parent and one child to participate). Families will be included if they have at least one parent who will participate and one child between the ages of 3 and 5 who is not meeting current physical activity guidelines (\>=60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous physical activity. There will be no delimitations to the sample based on socio-economic or ethnic variables.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Victoria: lead
• Canadian Cancer Society (CCS): collaborator
• University of British Columbia: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Behavioural Medicine Lab

Victoria, British Columbia, V8P 5C2, Canada

RECRUITING

Related Publications (1)

• Grant SJ, Beauchamp MR, Blanchard CM, Carson V, Gardner B, Warburton DER, Rhodes RE. Parents and children active together: a randomized trial protocol examining motivational, regulatory, and habitual intervention approaches. BMC Public Health. 2020 Sep 21;20(1):1436. doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-09465-z.

  PMID: 32957959 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Motor Activity

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Study Officials

• Ryan Rhodes, PhD

  University of Victoria

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

• Mark Beauchamp, PhD

  University of British Columbia

  STUDY CHAIR

• Chris Blanchard, PhD

  Dalhousie University

  STUDY CHAIR

• Valerie Carson, PhD

  University of Alberta

  STUDY CHAIR

• Benjamin Gardner, PhD

  King's College

  STUDY CHAIR

• Darren Warburton, PhD

  University of British Columbia

  STUDY CHAIR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 14, 2017
• First Posted: February 16, 2017
• Study Start: March 1, 2017
• Primary Completion: September 1, 2025
• Study Completion: December 1, 2025
• Last Updated: April 1, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-03

Locations

CA (1)