Children- Sit Less, Move More (C-SLAMM): Increasing Physical Activity and Decreasing Sedentary Behaviour in Children
Condition: Physical Inactivity; Sedentary Behavior; Health Behavior; Child Behavior; Physical Activity
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The Children Sit Less, Move More (C-SLAMM) study aims to test the feasibility and potential
      effect of a multi-component school and home-based pilot cluster randomized control trial on
      reducing sedentary behavior and increasing physical activity in children.

      This pilot intervention will be an 8-week two-armed cluster RCT. Individuals (children aged
      7-9 years) will be the unit of analysis and schools (cluster) randomly assigned to one of two
      arms: (1) Physical activity and sedentary behavior (intervention arm), or (2) current
      practice (control arm). The design conduct and reporting of the intervention with adhere to
      the Consolidation Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) guidelines and is guided by the
      Standard Protocol Items for Randomized Trials (SPIRIT) Statement.
    

Detailed description: 
      The C-SLAMM study is an 8-week school-and home-based feasibility, two-armed pilot cluster
      randomized controlled trial.

      A convenience sample of primary schools in Northern Ireland will be invited to take part in
      the study. Baseline measurements will proceed randomization, and an identical set of measures
      will be taken from participants in week 8 of the intervention.

      Individuals (Primary 4 and Primary 5 children, aged 7-9 years) will be the unit of analysis
      and schools (clusters) will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (1) intervention
      condition or (2) current practice (control condition). Given the nature of the intervention,
      blinding of schools and participants will not be possible following randomization. The
      researcher responsible for subsequent data collection and analysis will not be blinded to
      group allocation. Any differences between the intervention and control groups will be by
      chance and adjusted for in the analyses. Schools randomized to control will be offered
      information on the intervention and associated materials at the end of the intervention.

      The intervention is, adapted from the previously tested Transform-Us! trial and informed by a
      qualitative study was on the perceived barriers and facilitators of physical activity within
      the classroom, school and/or home environment (REC/20/0033).

      The C-SLAMM study will use innovative behavioral, pedological, and environmental strategies
      within the classroom, school, and home settings to get children moving more and sitting less.
      Resources include health lessons, active lessons, active breaks, active homework to do with
      parents, active environments, and newsletters for parents. Each week teachers will be advised
      to incorporate elements of the intervention within the classroom setting. Teachers will
      modify the delivery of at least one class lesson per week (~30 minutes) so that children will
      complete the lesson standing up. Teachers will be provided with a suite of standing lesson
      delivery methods that can be modified to any class topic. In addition, every two-hour
      classroom teaching block will be interrupted every 30 minutes with a 2-minute guided
      light-intensity activity break. This will equate to a total of six minutes interrupted
      sitting time every two hours. Furthermore, each class will be provided with six standing
      desks so that children can rotate learning activities at 'standing stations'. A novelty timer
      will be given to each class so that teachers can monitor 2-minute standing breaks and every
      30-minutes of sitting class time.

      To compare the effects of the intervention against usual practice, schools assigned to the
      control arm will be requested to continue with their usual practice and lesson delivery, no
      environmental changes will be made to their classrooms. The participants in the control
      schools will be asked to complete the same study measurements as those in the intervention
      schools at the same time points.
    

Intervention name(s): C-SLAMM Study
Intervention type(s): Other
Intervention description(s): The intervention arm includes using innovative behavioural, pedagogical, and environmental strategies within the classroom, school, and home settings to get children moving more and sitting less. The strategies were based on strategies used in Transform-Us! involved incorporating movement into everyday class lessons - the delivery of the lesson changes, not the content. Resources included health lessons, active lessons, active breaks, active homework to do with parents, active environments, and newsletters for parents.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: Four schools allocated to receive the intervention; four schools allocated to the control group
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Prevention