A Participatory Parental Intervention Promoting Physical Activity in Preschools

Study Overview
=================
Brief 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.

Detailed 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.

Conditions
-----------------
Obesity, Physical Activity

Intervention / Treatment
-----------------
* Behavioral: parent-focused intervention
* Behavioral: twice weekly gym lessons


Participation Criteria
=================
Eligibility Criteria
-----------------
Inclusion Criteria: age 3-6 years Exclusion Criteria: severe atopic dermatitis, serious acute infectious diseases, physical malformations, and severe physical disabilities.

Ages Eligible for Study
-----------------
Minimum Age: 3 Years
Maximum Age: 6 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
-----------------
All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
-----------------
Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
=================
How is the study designed?
-----------------

Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: parent intervention plus gym lessons<br>Parent-focused participatory preschool intervention in addition to twice weekly gym lessons over 6 months. The participatory intervention includes parents, teachers and children. | Behavioral: parent-focused intervention<br>* 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.<br>* Other names: Ene mene fit - Eltern machen mit;Behavioral: twice weekly gym lessons<br>* twice weekly one-hour gym lessons delivered by a specially trained external physical education teacher over 6 months<br>* Other names: child-centered physical activity intervention;|
| Active Comparator: gym lessons only<br>Twice weekly one-hour gym lessons delivered by a specially trained external physical education teacher over 6 months | Behavioral: twice weekly gym lessons<br>* twice weekly one-hour gym lessons delivered by a specially trained external physical education teacher over 6 months<br>* Other names: child-centered physical activity intervention;|

What is the study measuring?
-----------------
Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Absolute change in mean accelerometry counts over 6 days |  | baseline, end of intervention, six months after end of intervention | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Body Mass Index |  | baseline, end of intervention, six months after end of intervention | 

 Terms related to the study
=================
Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
-----------------
children, preschool, participatory intervention, cluster-randomization, obesity prevention