A Transformational Teaching Intervention: Adolescents in Motion (AIM) Trial
Condition: Physical Activity
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      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.
    

Detailed 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.
    

Intervention name(s): Transformational Teaching; Standard Educational Practices
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Physical education teachers randomly assigned to the experimental condition will (through a 1-day workshop format) be provided with the resources to implement transformational approaches in their day-to-day work. In addition, these teachers will be involved in a follow-up support program following the workshop to help them to implement transformational teaching strategies that were developed in the workshop.; Physical education teachers randomly assigned to the control condition will take part in a professional development day workshop provided by their respective School Board. This will involve the same amount of contact time, and will take place on the same day as the transformational teaching workshop. It should be noted that the focus of those alternative workshops is unrelated to transformational leadership training.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Keywords: Physical activity; Transformational leadership; Physical education