Living Green and Healthy for Teens

NCT03996109 | Active Not Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: LiGHT
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 74
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This is a two-group parallel randomized controlled trial testing whether a gamified healthy living smartphone app for youth aged 10-16 representative of the Canadian population and one of their parents is more effective at improving a composite of health behaviours (diet, physical activity, sleep and screen time) than a simple app providing links to healthy living websites.

Conditions

Healthy Lifestyle; Adolescent Behavior

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Healthy living behaviours

  Number of behaviours engaged in by youth of the following 7 behaviours: a) ≥60 minutes of MVPA daily, b) ≤2 hours of recreational screen time daily, c) 9-11 hours (for those ≤13 years) and 8-10 hours (for those ≥14 years) of nightly sleep, d) ≥5 fruit and vegetable servings per day, e) ≤2 sugary beverages per week, f) breakfast consumption 7 days per week, and g) eating out or ordering in \<1 time per week.

  6 months

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• BMI Z-score

  6 months

• MVPA

  6 months, 1 year

• Diet quality biomarker

  6 months

Other Outcomes (8)

• Change in number of health behaviours

  6 months, (1 year exploratory)

• Cardiorespiratory fitness

  6 months

• Health related quality of life

  6 months, (1 year exploratory)

Study Arms (2)

Aim2Be

EXPERIMENTAL

Youth-parent dyads randomized to Aim2Be

Behavioral: Aim2Be smartphone app system

BnLt

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Youth-parent dyads randomized to BnLt

Behavioral: BnLt smartphone app

Interventions

Aim2Be smartphone app system BEHAVIORAL

Youth-parent dyads will receive the LiGHT program (addressing healthy eating, physical activity, screen time and sleep) via the Aim2Be smartphone app for 6 months. It provides personalization beginning with creation of an avatar and identifying user motivations, offers progressive goal-setting considering readiness, sub-tasks, milestones, self-monitoring tools with feedback and positive reinforcement. It applies behaviour change techniques, provides a knowledge centre, simulation narratives to enable decision making, and separate social exchange platforms for parents and youth to share ideas and challenges with peers. A Virtual Coach has been programmed using motivational interviewing theory. Gamification includes elements of choice, challenge, uncertainty, discovery, and kudos for achieving outcomes in the process of developing motivations, skills and mastery.

Aim2Be

BnLt smartphone app BEHAVIORAL

Youth-parent dyads will receive a simple app called BnLt for 6 months. It provides web-links to external websites that provide information and tips on healthy eating and activity, including the Canada Food Guide, Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology recommendations for physical activity, screen time and sleep for youth, and other resources.

BnLt

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 10 Years - 16 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• Living in a home setting with at least one smartphone or tablet and internet access in the household, and
• One parent or guardian (the "primary parent") who is able to attend all study visits.
• Youth or parent identifying a need or potential to improve health behaviours

You may not qualify if:

• Inability of the youth and/or primary parent to read English at a grade 5 level
• A health condition in the youth that precludes eating a variety of foods or engaging in physical activity
• Current participation of any family member in a weight management program
• Current participation in another clinical trial
• Current or prior participation of another member of the household/family in this trial

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Population Health Research Institute: lead
• Childhood Obesity Foundation: collaborator
• University of British Columbia: collaborator
• Ayogo Health Inc.: collaborator
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Hamilton Health Sciences

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Adolescent Behavior

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Study Officials

• Zubin Punthakee, MD, MSc

  Population Health Research Institute

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 19, 2019
• First Posted: June 24, 2019
• Study Start: December 11, 2021
• Primary Completion: September 30, 2024
• Study Completion: December 31, 2025
• Last Updated: March 27, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-03

Locations

CA (1)