A Parental Support Intervention for Children's Nature-Based Physical Activity: A Randomized Controlled Trial

NCT07674641 | Active Not Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: SCNU-SPT-2025-007
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 90
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This three-arm randomized controlled trial evaluated the effectiveness of an 8-week, WeChat-based parental support intervention designed to increase parents' support for children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces. Participants were randomly assigned to a Self-Determination Theory plus identity intervention group, a Self-Determination Theory intervention group, or an education control group. Across the intervention period, each group received two articles per week via a WeChat Official Account, which were disseminated through condition-specific WeChat groups. The primary outcome was parental support for children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces. Secondary outcomes included children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces and theory-based psychological variables related to parental support. Assessments were conducted at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and 8 weeks after the intervention had ended. Findings are intended to inform the development of feasible, theory-informed digital interventions to enhance parental support for children's nature-based physical activity.

Conditions

Health Behavior; Physical Activity Promotion

Keywords

Physical activity; Children; Parents; Family-Based Intervention; Natural Environment

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Parental support for children's nature-based physical activity

  Parental support for children's nature-based physical activity will be assessed using an adapted 5-item parental support questionnaire. The items were adapted from previous measures of parental support for children's physical activity and parent-child co-participation in physical activity-related behaviours, with wording modified to focus on children's physical activity or sport participation in outdoor natural environments. The questionnaire assesses parental encouragement, co-participation, transportation/logistical support, parental role modelling, and organisation of family outdoor activities. Items are rated on a 5-point frequency scale from 1 = never to 5 = every day. A mean score will be calculated, with higher scores indicating greater support for children's nature-based physical activity.

  Baseline, Week 8 (Post-intervention), and Week 16 (Follow-up, 8 weeks post-intervention).

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Parental Identity Toward Supporting Children's Nature-Based Physical Activity

  Baseline, Week 8 (Post-intervention), and Week 16 (Follow-up, 8 weeks post-intervention).

• Behavioural Regulation in Supporting Children's Nature-Based Physical Activity

  Baseline, Week 8 (Post-intervention), and Week 16 (Follow-up, 8 weeks post-intervention).

Study Arms (3)

Self-Determination Theory plus identity intervention group

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants in this group received an 8-week WeChat-based intervention designed to enhance parental support for children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces. The intervention content was grounded in Self-Determination Theory and focused on supporting parents' autonomy, competence, and relatedness in facilitating children's outdoor nature-based physical activity. In addition, this group received identity-focused content aimed at strengthening parents' support identity, that is, helping parents view the provision of support for children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces as consistent with their role as supportive parents. Two articles were delivered each week via a WeChat Official Account and disseminated through the condition-specific WeChat group, resulting in 16 articles in total.

Behavioral: Self-Determination Theory plus identity intervention group

Self-Determination Theory intervention group

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants in this group received an 8-week WeChat-based intervention grounded in Self-Determination Theory. The intervention focused on enhancing parents' autonomy, competence, and relatedness in supporting children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces. Content was designed to help parents recognise the value of supporting children's outdoor nature-based physical activity, develop confidence in providing practical support, and foster supportive parent-child interactions around outdoor activity participation. Two articles were delivered each week via a WeChat Official Account and disseminated through the condition-specific WeChat group, resulting in 16 articles in total.

Behavioral: Self-Determination Theory intervention group

Education control group

NO INTERVENTION

Participants in this group received general educational materials related to children's physical activity and outdoor natural spaces. The materials provided information on the benefits of physical activity and outdoor natural spaces but did not include theory-based behaviour-change content targeting parents' autonomy, competence, relatedness, or support identity. Two articles were delivered each week via a WeChat Official Account and disseminated through the condition-specific WeChat group, resulting in 16 articles in total.

Interventions

Self-Determination Theory plus identity intervention group BEHAVIORAL

Participants in this group received an 8-week WeChat-based parental support intervention designed to increase parents' support for children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces. The intervention content was grounded in Self-Determination Theory and focused on enhancing parents' autonomy, competence, and relatedness in supporting their children's outdoor nature-based physical activity. In addition, this arm included identity-focused content designed to strengthen parents' support identity, helping parents view the provision of support for children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces as consistent with their role as supportive parents. Two articles were delivered each week via a WeChat Official Account and disseminated through the condition-specific WeChat group, resulting in 16 articles in total.

Self-Determination Theory plus identity intervention group

Self-Determination Theory intervention group BEHAVIORAL

Participants in this group received an 8-week WeChat-based parental support intervention grounded in Self-Determination Theory. The intervention focused on enhancing parents' autonomy, competence, and relatedness in supporting their children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces. The content was designed to help parents recognise the value of supporting children's outdoor nature-based physical activity, increase their confidence in providing practical support, and foster supportive parent-child interactions around outdoor activity participation. Two articles were delivered each week via a WeChat Official Account and disseminated through the condition-specific WeChat group, resulting in 16 articles in total. This group served as a theory-based comparator intervention to examine the additional contribution of the identity-focused component.

Self-Determination Theory intervention group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 6 Years - 12 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• Families with at least one child aged 6 to 12 years
• Child has no contraindications for physical activity (as confirmed by parent report)
• Family owns a smartphone and is proficient in using WeChat (self-rated proficiency ≥ 4 on a 5-point scale)
• Family has engaged in natural environment physical activities ≤ 2 times per month in the past 3 months
• Parent or legal guardian is willing to provide informed consent and participate in the 12-week intervention

You may not qualify if:

• Child has a medical condition or disability that prevents participation in physical activity
• Family is currently participating in another physical activity intervention study
• Family plans to move out of the study area within the next 6 months
• Inability to read or understand Chinese (as intervention content is delivered in Chinese)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• South China Normal University: lead

Study Sites (1)

School of Physical Education and Sports Science, South China Normal University

Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Health Behavior; Motor Activity

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Study Officials

• Ru Zhang

  South China Normal University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Masking Details: Full participant masking was not feasible because the intervention was behavioural in nature and participants were aware of the materials they received through their condition-specific WeChat group. However, participants were not informed of the specific study hypotheses, the theoretical rationale for each intervention condition, or the content delivered to the other groups. Thus, although participants were not fully blinded to their own intervention content, they were unaware of the between-group content differences and the condition expected to be most effective. Outcomes were assessed using self-reported questionnaires. Where feasible, group labels will be coded during data analysis to reduce analytic bias.
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor ; Principal Investigator

Model Details: This study used a three-arm, parallel-group randomized controlled design to compare two theory-informed parental support interventions with an education control condition. Participants were randomly allocated to a Self-Determination Theory plus identity intervention group, a Self-Determination Theory group, or an education control group. All groups received digital materials through WeChat over an 8-week intervention period, with two articles delivered each week. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and at an 8-week post-intervention follow-up.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 24, 2026
• First Posted: June 29, 2026
• Study Start: November 6, 2025
• Primary Completion: July 1, 2026
• Study Completion: July 1, 2026
• Last Updated: June 29, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-06

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

CN (1)