A Participatory Parental Intervention Promoting Physical Activity in Preschools

Obesity Clinical Trial

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00987532
• Other study ID #: MIPH_KITA2008
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: September 2008
• Est. completion date: March 2011

Study information

• Verified date: May 2023
• Source: Universitätsmedizin Mannheim
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

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.

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.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 1047
• Est. completion date: March 2011
• Est. primary completion date: September 2010
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 3 Years to 6 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• age 3-6 years

Exclusion Criteria:

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

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Obesity
• Physical Activity

Intervention

Behavioral:
• parent-focused intervention
The core of the parent-focused intervention is a menu of 15 easy to realize project ideas to promote the everyday physical activity of children and families. The 15 ideas are presented to the parents and teachers via a webpage, a printed book and a film. During a face-to-face meeting, parents and teachers are guided into discussions of their own preschool environment's and community's physical activity shortcomings and encouraged to generate their own ideas of how to enhance the physical activity of their families and preschools. Over the course of three structured follow-up meetings, parents and teachers are instructed to choose maximally 3 to 4 ideas from either the menu or the network's own ideas, and then are empowered to realize and implement them together.
• twice weekly gym lessons
twice weekly one-hour gym lessons delivered by a specially trained external physical education teacher over 6 months

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Germany	Mannheim Institute of Public Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University	Mannheim	Baden-Württemberg

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Universitätsmedizin Mannheim	Baden-Württemberg Stiftung gGmbH

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Germany, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Absolute change in mean accelerometry counts over 6 days		baseline, end of intervention, six months after end of intervention
Secondary	Body Mass Index		baseline, end of intervention, six months after end of intervention

External Links

•   webpage of the participatory parent-focused intervention