Whole family-based physical activity promotion intervention: the Families Reporting Every Step to Health pilot randomised controlled trial protocol

Abstract

IntroductionFamily-based physical activity (PA) interventions present a promising avenue to promote children’s activity; however, high-quality experimental research is lacking. This paper describes the protocol for the FRESH (Families Reporting Every Step to Health) pilot trial, a child-led family-based PA intervention delivered online.Methods and analysisFRESH is a three-armed, parallel-group, randomised controlled pilot trial using a 1:1:1 allocation ratio with follow-up assessments at 8 and 52 weeks postbaseline. Families will be eligible if a minimum of one child in school Years 3–6 (aged 7–11 years) and at least one adult responsible for that child are willing to participate. Family members can take part in the intervention irrespective of their participation in the accompanying evaluation and vice versa.Following baseline assessment, families will be randomly allocated to one of three arms: (1) FRESH; (2) pedometer-only or (3) no-intervention control. All family members in the pedometer-only and FRESH arms receive pedometers and generic PA promotion information. FRESH families additionally receive access to the intervention website; allowing participants to select step challenges to ‘travel’ to target cities around the world, log steps and track progress as they virtually globetrot. Control families will receive no treatment. All family members will be eligible to participate in the evaluation with two follow-ups (8 and 52 weeks). Physical (eg, fitness and blood pressure), psychosocial (eg, social support) and behavioural (eg, objectively measured family PA) measures will be collected at each time point. At 8-week follow-up, a mixed methods process evaluation will be conducted (questionnaires and family focus groups) assessing acceptability of the intervention and evaluation. FRESH families’ website engagement will also be explored.Ethics and disseminationThis study received ethical approval from the Ethics Committee for the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Cambridge. Findings will be disseminated via peer-reviewed publications, conferences and to participating families.Trial registration number ISRCTN12789422

Family as a health promotion setting: A scoping review of conceptual models of the health-promoting family

“…Our search for models related to the health promoting family resulted in the consideration of studies from a very broad range of disciplines, methodological approaches, purposes and perspectives. Whether the study was looking at effects of parental depression [ 20 ], weight loss and obesity [ 66 , 77 ]; academic outcomes [ 107 ]; mental health outcomes [ 105 ]; dieting and nutrition [ 82 ]; the participation of children with disabilities [ 76 ], child resilience [ 19 ], influences on participation in physical activity [ 36 , 60 , 61 , 122 ], or parental perceptions regarding health behaviors for their children [ 63 , 111 ] the importance—but also the complexity—of the task of modeling the potential of the family in the promotion of health or well-being was acknowledged.…”

A whole family-based physical activity promotion intervention: findings from the families reporting every step to health (FRESH) pilot randomised controlled trial

“…A detailed description of the study protocol has been published elsewhere [ 20 ]; a brief summary of the methods is provided below. We received ethical approval from the Ethics Committee for the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Cambridge (ID number: 17/113) and this study was prospectively registered ( ISRCTN12789422 ).…”

“…The development, feasibility, acceptability, and refinements made to the intervention prior to the current pilot trial have been previously described [19,20], including a detailed description of the FRESH intervention as implemented in the pilot [20]. In summary, families in the FAM arm received a theory-based intervention that was delivered online and aimed at increasing physical activity for the whole family [23][24][25].…”

Reducing Young Schoolchildren’s Intake of Sugar-Rich Food and Drinks: Study Protocol and Intervention Design for “Are You Too Sweet?” A Multicomponent 3.5-Month Cluster Randomised Family-Based Intervention Study

“…Two items were developed to quantify child and family time spent together, and one question on the most frequent activity done together. These questions were inspired by a previous study [ 43 ]. Specific family activities were identified from qualitative family interviews carried out as part of the preparation for the intervention.…”