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

South China Normal University

Status: Active, not recruiting

Conditions: Physical Activity Promotion; Health Behavior

Treatments: Behavioral: Self-Determination Theory intervention group; Behavioral: Self-Determination Theory plus identity intervention group

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07674641

SCNU-SPT-2025-007

Details and patient eligibility

About

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.

Full description

This three-arm randomized controlled trial was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of an 8-week, WeChat-based parental support intervention in increasing parents' support for children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a Self-Determination Theory plus identity intervention group, a Self-Determination Theory group, or an education control group.

The intervention was delivered digitally through WeChat. During the 8-week intervention period, participants in each group received two articles per week via a WeChat Official Account, which were disseminated to condition-specific WeChat groups. In total, 16 articles were delivered to each group. The content of the articles differed according to the assigned intervention condition.

The Self-Determination Theory intervention was designed to enhance parents' autonomy, competence, and relatedness in supporting their children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces. The intervention content aimed to help parents understand the value of supporting children's nature-based physical activity, develop confidence in providing practical support, and foster supportive parent-child interactions around outdoor activity participation. The Self-Determination Theory plus identity intervention included the same need-supportive components, with additional content aimed at strengthening parents' support identity. This identity-focused component was designed to help parents view supporting children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces as consistent with their role as supportive parents. The education control group received general educational materials concerning children's health behaviours, without theory-based behaviour-change content targeting parental support.

The primary outcome was parental support for children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces. Secondary outcomes included family physical activity in outdoor natural spaces and theory-based psychological variables related to parental support, including autonomy, competence, relatedness, intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, integrated regulation, and parental support identity. Assessments were conducted at three time points: baseline, immediately after the 8-week intervention, and 8 weeks after the intervention had ended.

Findings from this trial are expected to provide evidence regarding preliminary effectiveness of a theory-informed, digitally delivered intervention for enhancing parental support for children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces.

Enrollment: 90 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 6 to 12 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 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

Exclusion criteria

• 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)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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90 participants in 3 patient groups

Self-Determination Theory plus identity intervention group

Experimental group

Description:

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.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self-Determination Theory plus identity intervention group

Self-Determination Theory intervention group

Experimental group

Description:

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.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self-Determination Theory intervention group

Education control group

No Intervention group

Description:

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.