Family Habit Physical Activity Study

NCT ID: NCT03145688

Last Updated: 2025-04-01

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 240 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2017-02-12
• Study Completion Date: 2025-12-31

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.

Detailed Description

Secondary Research Questions

1. Does the habit formation condition improve child health-related quality of life, and health-related fitness outcomes compared to the control and planning conditions at six months? Hypothesis: Child health-related fitness and quality of life will be higher for the habit formation condition in comparison to the control and planning conditions.

2. Can group differences among behavioural, and health-related fitness outcomes be explained through a mediation model? Hypothesis: The covariance of the assigned conditions (habit formation, planning + education, education control) on child physical activity will be explained by parental support habit, and through the use of consistency and cues regulation strategies (i.e., manipulation check). In turn, the covariance between support habit and health-related outcomes will be explained by physical activity among conditions. The habit formation condition will not affect parental support intentions or underlying outcome expectations (benefits of physical activity) for support of child physical activity because its effect on behavior is to tie initial intentions to behavioural action or to work independent of goals and intentions.

3. Is there an intergenerational, seasonal, or gender difference across primary outcomes by assigned condition? Hypothesis: Parents in the habit formation condition will show higher physical activity via some activities being performed with their children in comparison to the other conditions. No differences in gender or season are hypothesized but these are exploratory research questions because there is limited research at present [28] to make any definitive statement.

Conditions

Physical Activity

Study Design

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

Study Groups

Control

The control group package will consist of the Canadian 24 Hour Movement Guidelines recommending 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day for children. The guide also contains arguments \& information about the benefits of physical activity.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Family physical activity Planning

Behavoural: Family Physical Activity Planning. 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 exercises for parents \& children where they list physical activities that they have found fun in the past, as well as some new activities they would like to try \& skill training content to help with goal setting \& tracking of physical activity.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Family Physical Activity Planning

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Families 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 a skill training content workbook on how to plan for family physical activity. 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 will provide this material as prompts/suggestions. Families will be instructed to plan for "when," "where," "how," and "what" physical activity will be performed \& then track their physical activity. These aspects will be re-introduced and discussed at week 6 and week 12 in booster sessions

Family Physical Activity Habit Formation

Behavioural: Family Physical Activity Habit formation. 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.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Family Physical Activity Habit Formation

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Families 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. 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. The importance of creating cues for parental support of child physical activity is then outlined. Cues will also be considered factors that a) can precede the support activity but b) not be present very often when the activity is not to be performed. We will suggest that cues that have repeated exposure during times when family physical activity is not present Parents will then be asked to brainstorm and create a plan of consistency and cues with the workbooks provided. These aspects will be re-introduced and discussed at week 6 and week 12 in booster sessions.

Interventions

Family Physical Activity Planning

Families 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 a skill training content workbook on how to plan for family physical activity. 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 will provide this material as prompts/suggestions. Families will be instructed to plan for "when," "where," "how," and "what" physical activity will be performed \& then track their physical activity. These aspects will be re-introduced and discussed at week 6 and week 12 in booster sessions

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Family Physical Activity Habit Formation

Families 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. 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. The importance of creating cues for parental support of child physical activity is then outlined. Cues will also be considered factors that a) can precede the support activity but b) not be present very often when the activity is not to be performed. We will suggest that cues that have repeated exposure during times when family physical activity is not present Parents will then be asked to brainstorm and create a plan of consistency and cues with the workbooks provided. These aspects will be re-introduced and discussed at week 6 and week 12 in booster sessions.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• parents with children between the ages of 6 and 12 years
• self-report low family physical activity
• target child is not meeting Canada's Physical Activity guidelines

Exclusion Criteria

• participant is unsafe to participate in physical activity as determined by answers to the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q)

• Minimum Eligible Age: 6 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 12 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of British Columbia

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Dalhousie University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Alberta

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

King's College London

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Victoria

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Ryan Rhodes

Professor, Principal Investigator

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Ryan Rhodes, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Victoria

Chris Blanshard, PhD

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

Dalhousie University

Valerie Carson, PhD

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

University of Alberta

Benjamin Gardner, PhD

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

King's College London

Darren Warburton, PhD

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

University of British Columbia

Mark Beauchamp, PhD

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

University of British Columbia

Locations

Behavioural Medicine Lab, University of Victoria

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

Canada

Facility Contacts

Sandy Courtnall

Role: primary

bml@uvic.ca

250 472 5288

References

Medd ER, Beauchamp MR, Blanchard CM, Carson V, Gardner B, Warburton DE, Rhodes RE. Family-based habit intervention to promote parent support for child physical activity in Canada: protocol for a randomised trial. BMJ Open. 2020 Apr 14;10(4):e033732. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-033732.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 32295773 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

35941 51350

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id