Promoting Physical Activity and Fitness Among Underserved Latino Families Living in U.S.-Mexico Border Regions (AFL)

San Diego State University

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Obesity Prevention; Heart Disease

Treatments: Behavioral: Physical Activity

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT06596902

HS-2023-0308

1R01MD019330-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study has the goal to increase physical activity and fitness among Latinos in San Diego, California and Mexicali, Baja California (U.S.-Mexico border) since these cities have similar diseases such as high rates of heart disease and obesity. Therefore there is a need to have physical activity programs for children and their families. We will collaborate with community centers to have this program available.

Full description

The U.S. and Mexico share similar population disease patterns such as high rates of chronic diseases (e.g.,heart disease and obesity). Individuals residing in border regions often travel back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico, which exposes them to both different and similar obesogenic, socio-cultural, and physical environments. This frequent transnational interaction has led researchers to classify border cities as one region that should be studied as a whole. As such, it is important to systematically study border populations and develop effective interventions and public policy for this region. This study will test the efficacy and sustainability of a 12-month family-centered behavioral cluster randomized intervention, Athletes for Life (AFL), plus a 1-year active sustainability phase in community recreation centers in San Diego, California (U.S.) and Mexicali, Baja California (Mexico). This study will also assess intervention implementation outcomes, including program acceptability and feasibility by families and community recreation center staff. A total of 8 community recreation centers and 290 parent/child dyads (4 in San Diego and 4 in Mexicali) will be randomized to either a control group consisting of standard recreation center classes (delivered by regular recreation center staff) or an experimental group consisting of the multilevel AFL behavioral intervention (delivered by study staff). This study aims to increase total habitual physical activity (PA) and cardiovascular fitness (CVF) in a U.S.-Mexico transborder population that experiences disproportionately high rates of obesity. We will harness our research team's extensive experience in developing multi-level interventions to promote behavior change among Latinos, and leverage a strong community-academic collaboration that maximizes community impact and sustainability. The long-term goal of this project is to reduce cardiovascular disease and cardiometabolic risk factors among underserved children and their families in the US-Mexico border region. This research will provide novel empirical evidence for the efficacy, scalability, and sustainability of a multilevel fitness- and lifestyle-oriented family approach delivered in collaboration with community centers among underserved Latino families in the U.S.-Mexico border region.

Enrollment: 290 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 6+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• parents aged ≥18 years
• children aged 6-11 years
• living in the target community (within 5 miles of one of targeted community centers)

Exclusion criteria

• for the parent or child are presence of a medical or physical condition that is contraindicated to participating in sports/exercise (e.g., negative score on the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q)).

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

---

290 participants in 2 patient groups

Intervention Program

Experimental group

Description:

The 12-month intervention will progressively increase in intensity \& complexity to teach parents/children more complex sports skills \& behavioral techniques, \& to prepare them to become future team leaders for nutrition education and sports sessions. In addition, the family Olympics events will take place after every 3-month to reinforce progression, social support, \& progressive improvements: Phase 1: Beginner (months 0-3) will focus on introductory concepts \& basic sports skills \& will focus on establishing consistent behavioral patterns \& social support. Phase 2: Intermediate (months 4-6) will begin to introduce slightly more complex nutrition \& behavioral concepts, increase difficulty of sport skills, \& reinforce behavioral patterns from phase 1. Phase 4: Advanced (months 10-12) will teach parents \& children advanced sports skills \& nutrition knowledge so that they may become team leaders to help implement future activity sessions and nutrition education sessions.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Physical Activity

Control Group

No Intervention group

Description:

Centers that are randomly assigned to the control group will continue with regularly schedule programing and activities. Families recruited from control centers will be allowed to take part in all the programs offered at the recreation centers, with exception to the AFL program since it will not be offered at those centers. Control group families will also receive publicly available information regarding the benefits of PA and strategies to become physically active (e.g., CDC PA guidelines websites \& handbook). 12-month sustainability phase will involve assessments at the organizational and individual levels. At the organizational level, we will examine the number of AFL sessions held at each recreation center and document the number of phone consultations, length of calls, and barriers addressed. At the individual level, we will examine the number of minutes of adult and child habitual PA.