A Home Exercise Program for Women With Infants & Young Children
Condition: MomZing Exercise Videos Online; Standard Exercise DVD
Study type: Interventional
Phase: Phase 3

Summary: 
      This Phase II Small Business Technology Transfer(STTR) project will develop and test the
      effectiveness of an interactive web program optimized for use on a Internet connected
      television(TV), titled Moms Exercising or (MomZing) that is designed specifically for women
      with infants 2-8 months old. Moms will select from a menu of 98, 10-minute exercise videos
      demonstrating yoga, aerobics, and strengthening exercises. They select and sequence together
      exercise videos personalized to their fitness level, form of exercise, and the choice to
      actively exercise with her baby or alone. The primary health goal of the MomZing Program is
      to increase home-based Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity (MPVA) minutes per week in new
      mothers and to maintain their exercise increases over time as their baby grows.

      The investigators hypothesize that women that use the MomZing Program will have greater
      increases in physical activity and fewer will return to cigarette smoking or alcohol use,
      compared to women who use a standard "mommy and me" exercise DVD.
    

Detailed description: 
      Becoming a mother is a significant transition in a woman's life, and while this is a positive
      experience for many, there can be significant decreases in healthful behaviors such as
      physical activity and increases in unhealthy behaviors including sleep deprivation, stress,
      and depressive symptoms. Increasing postpartum physical activity can have multiple health
      benefits including risk reduction for chronic diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular
      disease, and improvement in psychological health including decreased stress and depressive
      symptoms. Improvements in mental health outcomes can prevent substance use since
      psychological stress is a risk factor for substance use and abuse. The postpartum period also
      represents a critical period to prevent a return to substance use, including tobacco and
      alcohol.

      This Small Business Technology Transfer(STTR)- Phase II project will develop and test an
      interactive web-enabled television program, titled Mothers Exercising or ("MomZing). Features
      include the ability to select one to five 10-minute videos demonstrating yoga, aerobics, and
      strengthening exercises for mothers with infants 2 to 8 months of age. Women will select and
      sequence together videos personalized to their fitness level, preference for exercise type,
      and the choice to actively exercise with her baby or alone. Exercises with a baby will be
      tailored to the infant's weight and include interactions that promote cognitive development
      and mother-child bonding. MomZing is designed for viewing on a television taking advantage of
      new technologies that allow viewers to watch streaming video (including movies) from the
      internet on a television. The television can also be connected to the internet via a
      web-enabled console such as an internet-connecting device.

      The primary goal of the MomZing web-enabled Program is to increase home-based
      moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) minutes per week in new mothers. Phase II
      activities will include: 1) programming the MomZing multimedia web enabled Program, a
      recruitment website, and online survey; 2) producing 98,10-minute video segments showing
      women exercising with or without an infant; 3) conducting iterative usability testing of the
      features and content of the Program; and, 4) conducting a randomized trial of the efficacy of
      the Program with 572 new mothers recruited from across the U.S. New mothers will be randomly
      assigned to receive either the MomZing web-enabled TV Program or a standard exercise DVD
      designed for new mothers. The primary outcome will be minutes per week of leisure-time
      moderate to vigorous physical activity measured at baseline, 4 and 12 weeks. Secondary
      outcomes include changes in fatigue, sleep, depressive symptoms, tobacco and alcohol use at
      12 weeks. Process evaluation will also determine extent to which the technology is utilized
      (frequency of use and time per access) over 12 weeks in both conditions. We will investigate
      whether key demographic (i.e., weight of infant, number of children) physiological (i.e.,
      body mass index), and lifestyle factors (sleep quality, fatigue) act as mediators or
      moderators of any change in physical activity.

      The MomZing Program will allow Moms to tailor a range of exercise options to meet their needs
      and those of their infant. As their infant grows and progresses through different cognitive
      and developmental stages the Program can grow with them, allowing the Mom to change her
      preferences unlike any exercise multimedia(DVD or website) currently available on the market.
    

Intervention name(s): MomZing Web Program; Standard Exercise DVD
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Online web platform that is accessed via a television connected to internet; Standard exercise DVD that demonstrates exercises a women does with an infant.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Double (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: exercise; video; DVD; mother; infant