BOOSTH: Promoting Physical Activity in Primary Schools in Combination With Serious Gaming

NCT03440580 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: METC 172043
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 713
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Physical inactivity is considered to be one of the ten principal risk factors for death worldwide. Children need to perform one hour of daily moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity whereof at least twice a week these activities are of vigorous intensity. In 2010, the percentage of 4-11 year-old normoactive Dutch children was approximately 20%.Previous interventions that aimed to increase childhood physical activity produced small to negligible effects. One possible explanation is that individuals were not intrinsically motivated towards physical activity during the intervention period. Children spend a substantial amount of their time behind a game consule. There are a number of applications that motivate increase in physical activity in a fun way through engaging individuals in games that mix real and computing worlds. These games became known as serious games. In this study we want to investigate if the incorporation of a serious game BOOSTH in combination with an activity tracker and battle to stimulate physical activity behaviour in primary school children (grades 5th to 7th).

Conditions

Physical Activity; Serious Game; Child Behavior; School Intervention

Keywords

physical activity; serious game; school intervention; children

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• moderate to vigorous physical activity (min/day)

  change in moderate to vigorous physical activity (min/day) as measured with accelerometry

  up to twelve months

Secondary Outcomes (11)

• change in step count

  up to twelve months

• change in physical activity behaviour

  up to twelve months

• BMI-z score

  up to twelve months

• motivation towards physical activity

  up to twelve months (measurement at baseline,3-, 6- and 12 months)

• screen-time

  up to twelve months (measurement at baseline,3-, 6- and 12 months)

Other Outcomes (3)

• Comprehensive General Parenting Questionnaire

  up to twelve months (measurement at baseline and 6 months)

• parenting practices questionnaire

  up to twelve months (measurement at baseline and 6 months)

• Process evaluation

  up to 6 months (measurement at 3- and 6 months)

Study Arms (2)

Intervention

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

The intervention school will receive the BOOSTH intervention: Boosth activity tracker, Boosth sync app, Boosht game app

Device: BOOSTH

control group

NO INTERVENTION

The control school will receive the standard curriculum. After the study is finished the children of the control school will receive the Boosth product

Interventions

BOOSTH DEVICE

BOOSTH as a serious game is used as a tool to motivate children to perform more PA. BOOSTH uses the combination of a smartphone game and a pedometer that assesses daily PA by measuring steps/day. The BOOSTH activity monitor is a wrist-worn activity monitor that is able to provide online feedback on the child's PA levels. Moreover, BOOSTH is a reward-based game as a child is given incentive to increase their PA level, in order to acquire activity points which later can be used to unlock levels and progress in the BOOSTH game.

Intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 7 Years - 13 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• The school needs to be located in the Limburg- region of the Netherlands.
• At least 25 students enrolled in grades 5, 6 and 7
• The school works with a technological device with Bluetooth option to synchronize activity points
• Boys and girls, in 5th to 7th grade
• Informed consent signed by both parents and children aged 12 years and older.
• Exlusion criteria
• Children who are wheelchair dependent.
• The school has plans to merge with another school or plans to relocate in the upcoming year.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Maastricht University Medical Center: lead

Study Sites (1)

Maastricht University Medical Center

Maastricht, Limburg, 6229HX, Netherlands

Location

Related Publications (3)

• Neil-Sztramko SE, Caldwell H, Dobbins M. School-based physical activity programs for promoting physical activity and fitness in children and adolescents aged 6 to 18. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2021 Sep 23;9(9):CD007651. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD007651.pub3.

  PMID: 34555181 DERIVED

• Velde GT, Plasqui G, Willeboordse M, Winkens B, Vreugdenhil A. Associations between physical activity, sedentary time and cardiovascular risk factors among Dutch children. PLoS One. 2021 Aug 27;16(8):e0256448. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256448. eCollection 2021.

  PMID: 34449807 DERIVED

• Ten Velde G, Plasqui G, Willeboordse M, Winkens B, Vreugdenhil A. Feasibility and Effect of the Exergame BOOSTH Introduced to Improve Physical Activity and Health in Children: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Res Protoc. 2020 Dec 11;9(12):e24035. doi: 10.2196/24035.

  PMID: 33306031 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Motor Activity; Child Behavior

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Study Officials

• Anita Vreugdenhil, Dr

  Maastricht University Medical Center

  STUDY CHAIR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Masking Details: Schools will be randomized into intervention or control schools. Randomization will be done by an independent researcher. After the randomization, the intervention school receives the BOOSTH intervention. The control school receives BOOSTH after the study is finished.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: The study design will be a randomized controlled trial regarding a physical activity intervention. A 1:1 randomization will be applied with intervention schools and matched control schools. The intervention school will recieve the BOOSTH intervention

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 30, 2018
• First Posted: February 22, 2018
• Study Start: August 17, 2018
• Primary Completion: July 1, 2020
• Study Completion: July 1, 2020
• Last Updated: September 3, 2020

Record last verified: 2020-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

NL (1)