A Transformational Teaching Intervention: Adolescents in Motion (AIM) Trial

University of British Columbia

Status: Completed

Conditions: Physical Activity

Treatments: Behavioral: Standard Educational Practices; Behavioral: Transformational Teaching

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01371292

H08-02513

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this Randomized Controlled Tria (RCT) is to evaluate the effects of a transformational teaching intervention in comparison to 'standard educational practices' within school-based physical education classes (within three Canadian provinces; British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia) across 5 months.

Full description

Physical inactivity among adolescents has been linked to a vast array of physical and mental health problems. One potential vehicle to foster adolescent involvement in physical activity relates to physical education in schools.

A potentially important framework, that has recently been applied to educational and health promotion contexts, relates to transformational leadership theory. Transformational leadership involves the demonstration of behaviors that empower and inspire others to achieve higher levels of functioning, and has been consistently found to be associated with greater motivation, self-efficacy, well-being, and performance in those being led. From an applied perspective, a growing body of evidence also suggests that transformational behaviors can be developed in leaders through short-term interventions (e.g., one-day workshops), which subsequently result in positive changes in followers' attitudinal and behavioral responses.

With this in mind, the overall goal of this Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) is to test the efficacy of a theory-driven evidence-based transformational teaching intervention for use within school-based physical activity settings. In this 5-month trial, physical education teachers from 36 schools from three provinces across Canada (British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia) will be provided with (through a one day work shop and follow-up support program) the resources they need to implement transformational teaching behaviours in their day-to-day teaching practices. The primary hypothesis for this RCT is that students taught by teachers in the intervention condition will display greater adoption and maintenance of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) behaviors outside of school hours in comparison to control students, after controlling for baseline levels. A process evaluation will also be conducted with teachers to evaluate the procedures embedded within the intervention.

Enrollment: 2,160 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 13 to 15 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Grade 9 (aged 14 (+/- 1 year))

Exclusion criteria

• Do not have basic working knowledge of English

Trial design

2,160 participants in 2 patient groups

Transformational teaching condition

Experimental group

Description:

Teachers allocated to this condition will receive the transformational teaching intervention.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Transformational Teaching

Standard practice control condition

Active Comparator group

Description:

Teachers allocated to this condition will not receive the transformational teaching intervention. Instead they will take part in a parallel workshop offered by their respective school board (unrelated to transformational leadership training).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Standard Educational Practices