Clinical Trial Details
— Status: Active, not recruiting
Administrative data
NCT number |
NCT03996109 |
Other study ID # |
LiGHT |
Secondary ID |
|
Status |
Active, not recruiting |
Phase |
N/A
|
First received |
|
Last updated |
|
Start date |
December 11, 2021 |
Est. completion date |
September 30, 2024 |
Study information
Verified date |
April 2024 |
Source |
Population Health Research Institute |
Contact |
n/a |
Is FDA regulated |
No |
Health authority |
|
Study type |
Interventional
|
Clinical Trial Summary
This is a two-group parallel randomized controlled trial testing whether a gamified healthy
living smartphone app for youth aged 10-16 representative of the Canadian population and one
of their parents is more effective at improving a composite of health behaviours (diet,
physical activity, sleep and screen time) than a simple app providing links to healthy living
websites.
Description:
Living Green and Healthy for Teens (LiGHT) is a Canadian smartphone app-based program that
combines health promotion (healthy eating, active living, screen time and sleep) with
additional novel motivators such as environmental stewardship (e.g. reduce prepackaged foods,
walk rather than drive) and cost-savings (e.g., eat at home rather than restaurants), that
may further increase the likelihood of behaviour change.
The primary aim of the trial is to determine, among youth aged 10-16 years, if randomization
of their family to the use of the interactive gamified Living Green and Healthy for Teens
(LiGHT) app over a 6 month period, compared to a control app, increases the number of healthy
active living behaviours engaged in by youth. Additional outcomes will include youth
anthropometrics, diet quality, fitness, quality of life, and parental health behaviours and
cardiovascular risk.
Using a multi-centre randomized, parallel, controlled single-blind design, 376 eligible
youth-parent dyads stratified by youth (gender, and age <13.5/≥13.5y) will be allocated 1:1
to receive intervention or control apps that provide information and tips on healthy eating
and activity in different ways. Participants will be followed for 1 year, with the primary
outcome assessed at 6 months.
Participants will be recruited from the community in Hamilton, Ontario, and Surrey, British
Columbia, Canada. The target population is the general population of youth and their
families. Therefore, entry criteria will be broad. Youth aged 10-16 years of age who identify
a need or potential to improve health behaviours will be included if one parent is willing to
attend all study visits and use the app, there is at least one internet enabled device in the
household, and there are no contraindications to healthy eating and activity, and no family
member is participating in a weight management program or other clinical trial.
Participants will be blinded to treatment group. Both apps have appealing interfaces, and
both provide information, tips and interactivity (though to different degrees). Every effort
will be made to keep research staff who help participants with the app separate from staff
who collect data, and the latter will be trained to avoid discussing the intervention.
Evaluations at baseline, 3 months and 6 months by virtual or in-person appointments will
include a youth questionnaire including questions about food intake , screen time, physical
activity, health related quality of life, and resilience, and measurement of height, weight,
and fitness using a push-up test and standing long jump test. Participants completing
in-person visits will also complete the following: body fat percentage using bioelectrical
impedance assessment, blood pressure, hand grip strength using a dynamometer, and
cardiorespiratory fitness using a step test. Youth participants will also provide a urine
sample and wear an accelerometer for 7 days. Parents will complete a questionnaire including
questions about sociodemographics, their own food intake, screentime, physical activity,
parental role modelling and logistic support. Parents will also complete the non-laboratory
based INTERHEART risk score questionnaire and have their waist and hip circumference
measured. Participants and parents will complete questionnaires about youth experience of
online bullying and access to undesirable online content. 12 months after randomization,
participants and parents may be invited to complete the same study questionnaires online.
This trial will demonstrate whether use of a rigorously-designed, evidence-based,
user-friendly app is able to help families with teenagers improve health behaviours of youth
and have any early impact on CV risk factors. Conducting an RCT in the context of the full
range of youth in the community has the potential to inform population-scale implementation
as a public health tool for sustainable obesity prevention across Canada.