A Participatory Parental Intervention Promoting Physical Activity in Preschools

NCT ID: NCT00987532

Last Updated: 2023-05-11

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 1047 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2008-09-30
• Study Completion Date: 2011-03-31

Brief Summary

The aim of this study is to test whether a parent-focused participatory intervention in addition to gym lessons can enhance preschoolers physical activity compared to gym lessons alone.

Detailed Description

Over the last 20 years, physical activity (PA) in children has rapidly decreased in both developed and developing nations. More effective interventions to prevent inactivity in childhood thus are urgently needed. The preschool years, including the adiposity rebound period, might represent a good window of opportunity. Study literature suggests that targeting parents is crucial for lasting changes in young childrens' behavior. However, it is not known which methods are effective for involving parents in physical activity promotion. Consistent with experience from community-based participatory research, encouraging parents to participate the intervention in terms of content and structure might lead to higher intervention effectivity and sustainability. In our study, we therefore "enriched" a child-centered physical activity intervention in preschools (twice weekly gym lessons over 6 months) with a parent-focused participatory community intervention component.

Conditions

Obesity; Physical Activity

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

parent intervention plus gym lessons

Parent-focused participatory preschool intervention in addition to twice weekly gym lessons over 6 months. The participatory intervention includes parents, teachers and children.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

parent-focused intervention

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The core of the parent-focused intervention is a menu of 15 easy to realize project ideas to promote the everyday physical activity of children and families. The 15 ideas are presented to the parents and teachers via a webpage, a printed book and a film. During a face-to-face meeting, parents and teachers are guided into discussions of their own preschool environment's and community's physical activity shortcomings and encouraged to generate their own ideas of how to enhance the physical activity of their families and preschools. Over the course of three structured follow-up meetings, parents and teachers are instructed to choose maximally 3 to 4 ideas from either the menu or the network's own ideas, and then are empowered to realize and implement them together.

twice weekly gym lessons

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

twice weekly one-hour gym lessons delivered by a specially trained external physical education teacher over 6 months

gym lessons only

Twice weekly one-hour gym lessons delivered by a specially trained external physical education teacher over 6 months

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

twice weekly gym lessons

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

twice weekly one-hour gym lessons delivered by a specially trained external physical education teacher over 6 months

Interventions

parent-focused intervention

The core of the parent-focused intervention is a menu of 15 easy to realize project ideas to promote the everyday physical activity of children and families. The 15 ideas are presented to the parents and teachers via a webpage, a printed book and a film. During a face-to-face meeting, parents and teachers are guided into discussions of their own preschool environment's and community's physical activity shortcomings and encouraged to generate their own ideas of how to enhance the physical activity of their families and preschools. Over the course of three structured follow-up meetings, parents and teachers are instructed to choose maximally 3 to 4 ideas from either the menu or the network's own ideas, and then are empowered to realize and implement them together.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

twice weekly gym lessons

twice weekly one-hour gym lessons delivered by a specially trained external physical education teacher over 6 months

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

Ene mene fit - Eltern machen mit; child-centered physical activity intervention

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• age 3-6 years

Exclusion Criteria

• severe atopic dermatitis,
• serious acute infectious diseases,
• physical malformations, and
• severe physical disabilities.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 3 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 6 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Baden-Württemberg Stiftung gGmbH

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Universitätsmedizin Mannheim

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Joachim E. Fischer, MD MSc

Director, Mannheim Institute of Public Health

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Joachim E. Fischer, MD, M.Sc.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Mannheim Institute of Public Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University

Locations

Mannheim Institute of Public Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University

Mannheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany

Countries

Germany

References

De Bock F, Genser B, Raat H, Fischer JE, Renz-Polster H. A participatory physical activity intervention in preschools: a cluster randomized controlled trial. Am J Prev Med. 2013 Jul;45(1):64-74. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2013.01.032.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 23790990 (View on PubMed)

De Bock F, Fischer JE, Hoffmann K, Renz-Polster H. A participatory parent-focused intervention promoting physical activity in preschools: design of a cluster-randomized trial. BMC Public Health. 2010 Jan 31;10:49. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-10-49.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 20113522 (View on PubMed)

Related Links

http://www.ene-mene-fit.de

webpage of the participatory parent-focused intervention

Other Identifiers

MIPH_KITA2008

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id