A Participatory Parental Intervention Promoting Physical Activity in Preschools

Universitätsmedizin Mannheim

Status: Completed

Conditions: Physical Activity; Obesity

Treatments: Behavioral: twice weekly gym lessons; Behavioral: parent-focused intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT00987532

MIPH_KITA2008

Details and patient eligibility

About

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.

Full 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.

Enrollment: 1,047 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 3 to 6 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• age 3-6 years

Exclusion criteria

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

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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1,047 participants in 2 patient groups

parent intervention plus gym lessons

Experimental group

Description:

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

Treatment:

Behavioral: parent-focused intervention

Behavioral: twice weekly gym lessons

gym lessons only

Active Comparator group

Description:

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

Treatment:

Behavioral: twice weekly gym lessons