Physical ActivityNCT03055871
Parents and Children Active Together Study
A study testing Habit formation intervention and Physical activity planning intervention in people with Physical Activity, run by University of Victoria at 1 site in Canada.
Trial summary
The purpose of this study is to examine physical activity habit formation in parents and if this can increase moderate to vigorous physical activity behavior in their children over six months.The Primary Research Question is: Does the habit formation condition result in increased moderate-vigorous intensity physical… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 3 to 5 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Physical Activity
- What is being tested?
- Habit formation intervention and Physical activity planning intervention
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 240 participants
- Where
- 1 siteCanada
- Study dates
- 1 Mar 2017to Dec 2025
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 3 to 5 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Child
Who may be able to join
- Participants will be at least one parent with at least one child between the ages of 3 and 5 years. Families will reside in greater Victoria, British Columbia. Parents can be single parents or co-parents (i.e. we only require one parent and one child to participate). Families will be included if they have at least one parent who will participate and one child between the ages of 3 and 5 who is not meeting current physical activity guidelines (>=60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous physical activity. There will be no delimitations to the sample based on socio-economic or ethnic variables.
Who cannot join
- Exclusion Criteria: If child is meeting the current physical activity guidelines >=60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day.
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
Canada1 site, 1 recruiting
- Recruiting
Behavioural Medicine Lab
Victoria, British Columbia, V8P 5C2
Stina Grant, BA, 250 472 5288, bml@uvic.ca
Ryan Rhodes, PhD
About this study
Official title: Parents and Children Active Together: Examining Motivational, Regulatory, and Habitual Intervention Approaches
The purpose of this study is to examine physical activity habit formation in parents and if this can increase moderate to vigorous physical activity behavior in their children over six months.The Primary Research Question is:
Does the habit formation condition result in increased moderate-vigorous intensity physical activity of the child compared to the control (education) and education + planning conditions at six months? Hypothesis: Child physical activity will be higher for the habit formation condition in comparison to the more standard physical activity education and planning conditions at six months.
Read the detailed description
Secondary Research Questions
- Can group differences among behavioural outcomes be explained through a mediation model? Hypothesis: The covariance of the assigned conditions (habit formation, planning + education, education control) on child PA will be explained by parental co-activity habit, and through the use of consistency and cues regulation strategies (i.e., manipulation check). The habit formation condition will not affect parental support intentions or underlying outcome expectations (benefits of PA) for support of child PA because its effect on behavior is to tie initial intentions to behavioural action or to work independent of goals and intentions.
- Do factors such as quality of life, parental competence, and family functioning improve with increased PA? Hypothesis: Conditions that increase PA will show commensurate increases in these factors.
- Is there an intergenerational, seasonal, or gender difference across primary outcomes by assigned condition? Hypothesis: Parents in the habit formation condition will show higher PA via the activities being performed with their children in comparison to the other conditions. No differences in gender or season are hypothesized based on the current research at present
- Conditions
- Physical Activity
- Being tested
- Habit formation intervention, Physical activity planning intervention
- Keywords
- Behavioural: Family physical activity habit
- Medical subject headings
- Motor Activity
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Habit formation interventionBehavioural
In addition to the control content and the planning content, this intervention will include material provided to the family that assists with creating physical activity support habits. The material contains a discussion of what habits are, straightforward examples, planning and pointers for forming habits. A key component of the habit intervention will be planning for context-dependent repetition.
Physical activity planning interventionBehavioural
This arm will receive the control education content, but will also be provided with family PA planning material. This material will include skill training content (workbook on how to plan for family PA). The material includes a brainstorming exercise for parents where they list physical activities they think their children have found fun in the past, as well as activities that they would find enjoyable to do as a family. We also have Canadian parental survey data on the most preferred co-physical activities for children 3-6. We will provide this material as prompts/suggestions. This list helps create the template for PA planning by contextualizing what the parents would like to do with their kids.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Standard education control group | No intervention | The control group package will consist of Canada's PA guidelines recommending 180 min per week for young children, transitioning to 60 minutes of activity a day for children at five and a breakdown of ways for the parent to help their child achieve this PA (unstructured, endurance, strength, activities) commensurate with this guide. The guide also contains arguments and information about the benefits of PA. |
| Physical activity planning intervention | Other | The physical activity planning intervention condition will receive the same guidelines as the standard education control group but will also be provided with family physical activity planning material. This material will include workbook on how to plan for family physical activity; brainstorming exercise for children where they list physical activities that they have found fun in the past, as well as activities that they would find enjoyable to do as a family. Receives: Behavioral: Physical activity planning intervention |
| Habit formation intervention | Other | The habit formation intervention condition will receive the same content as the education control condition and the physical activity planning condition but with additional material on creating physical activity support habits. The material includes a brief discussion of what habits are with some very straightforward examples such as preparing for sleep routines, or initiating to drive a car to work. A key component of the habit section will be based on planning for context-dependent repetition, with pointers on how to maintain repetition as habit forms. Receives: Behavioral: Habit formation intervention |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Change from baseline in children's physical activity to 6 months
Children's physical activity will be quantified by accelerometry. Children will wear an accelerometer for a minimum of 6 hours per day for 7 days at baseline and 6 months. Additionally this measure will assess intermediate outcomes at 6 weeks and 3 months.
Measured: Baseline and 6 months
Secondary outcomes (2)
Change from baseline to 6 months in child physical activity by parent proxy self-report
The parent will complete a modified Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire to report physical activity of the target child to assess habitual moderate to vigorous physical activity at baseline, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months. Questions assess intensity, frequency, and duration of physical activity in an average week. Additionally this measure will assess intermediate outcomes at 6 weeks and 3 months.
Measured: Baseline and 6 months
Change from baseline in self-reported parental co-activity habit to 6 months
The parent will complete an adapted self-reported habit strength index for co-activity with their child at baseline, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months. Intermediate outcomes will be at 6 weeks and 3 months.
Measured: Baseline and 6 months
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted16 Feb 2017
- Study start1 Mar 2017
- Primary completionSep 2025 (estimated)
- Study completionDec 2025 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (1)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Physical ActivityStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind
- Who is masked
- Participant
- Enrolment
- 240 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of Victoria
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Canadian Cancer Society (CCS), University of British Columbia
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Ryan Rhodes, University of Victoria
- Investigators
- Ryan Rhodes, PhD, Principal investigator, University of VictoriaMark Beauchamp, PhD, Study chair, University of British ColumbiaChris Blanchard, PhD, Study chair, Dalhousie UniversityValerie Carson, PhD, Study chair, University of AlbertaBenjamin Gardner, PhD, Study chair, King's CollegeDarren Warburton, PhD, Study chair, University of British Columbia
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT03055871
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 704959
- Status last verified
- Mar 2025
- First submitted
- 14 Feb 2017
- Last updated
- 1 Apr 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Undecided
Publications
Grant SJ, Beauchamp MR, Blanchard CM, Carson V, Gardner B, Warburton DER, Rhodes RE. Parents and children active together: a randomized trial protocol examining motivational, regulatory, and habitual intervention approaches. BMC Public Health. 2020 Sep 21;20(1):1436. doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-09465-z.
PubMed 32957959
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 1 Apr 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Parents and Children Active Together: Examining Motivational, Regulatory, and Habitual Intervention Approaches
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT03055871
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 704959
- Conditions
- Physical Activity
- Keywords
- Behavioural: Family physical activity habit
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Recruiting
- Enrolment
- 240 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- University of VictoriaUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Canadian Cancer Society (CCS), University of British Columbia
- Study start
- 1 Mar 2017 (actual)
- Primary completion
- Sep 2025 (estimated)
- Study completion
- Dec 2025 (estimated)
- First posted
- 16 Feb 2017 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The purpose of this study is to examine physical activity habit formation in parents and if this can increase moderate to vigorous physical activity behavior in their children over six months.The Primary Research Question is:
Does the habit formation condition result in increased moderate-vigorous intensity physical activity of the child compared to the control (education) and education + planning conditions at six months? Hypothesis: Child physical activity will be higher for the habit formation condition in comparison to the more standard physical activity education and planning conditions at six months.
Detailed description
Secondary Research Questions
- Can group differences among behavioural outcomes be explained through a mediation model? Hypothesis: The covariance of the assigned conditions (habit formation, planning + education, education control) on child PA will be explained by parental co-activity habit, and through the use of consistency and cues regulation strategies (i.e., manipulation check). The habit formation condition will not affect parental support intentions or underlying outcome expectations (benefits of PA) for support of child PA because its effect on behavior is to tie initial intentions to behavioural action or to work independent of goals and intentions.
- Do factors such as quality of life, parental competence, and family functioning improve with increased PA? Hypothesis: Conditions that increase PA will show commensurate increases in these factors.
- Is there an intergenerational, seasonal, or gender difference across primary outcomes by assigned condition? Hypothesis: Parents in the habit formation condition will show higher PA via the activities being performed with their children in comparison to the other conditions. No differences in gender or season are hypothesized based on the current research at present
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind (participant)
- Number of arms
- 3
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Standard education control group | No intervention | –The control group package will consist of Canada's PA guidelines recommending 180 min per week for young children, transitioning to 60 minutes of activity a day for children at five and a breakdown of ways for the parent to help their child achieve this PA (unstructured, endurance, strength, activities) commensurate with this guide. The guide also contains arguments and information about the benefits of PA. |
| Physical activity planning intervention | Other | Behavioral: Physical activity planning interventionThe physical activity planning intervention condition will receive the same guidelines as the standard education control group but will also be provided with family physical activity planning material. This material will include workbook on how to plan for family physical activity; brainstorming exercise for children where they list physical activities that they have found fun in the past, as well as activities that they would find enjoyable to do as a family. |
| Habit formation intervention | Other | Behavioral: Habit formation interventionThe habit formation intervention condition will receive the same content as the education control condition and the physical activity planning condition but with additional material on creating physical activity support habits. The material includes a brief discussion of what habits are with some very straightforward examples such as preparing for sleep routines, or initiating to drive a car to work. A key component of the habit section will be based on planning for context-dependent repetition, with pointers on how to maintain repetition as habit forms. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 3 to 5 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Child
Key inclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Participants will be at least one parent with at least one child between the ages of 3 and 5 years. Families will reside in greater Victoria, British Columbia. Parents can be single parents or co-parents (i.e. we only require one parent and one child to participate). Families will be included if they have at least one parent who will participate and one child between the ages of 3 and 5 who is not meeting current physical activity guidelines (>=60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous physical activity. There will be no delimitations to the sample based on socio-economic or ethnic variables.
Key exclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Exclusion Criteria: If child is meeting the current physical activity guidelines >=60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day.
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Habit formation interventionIn addition to the control content and the planning content, this intervention will include material provided to the family that assists with creating physical activity support habits. The material contains a discussion of what habits are, straightforward examples, planning and pointers for forming habits. A key component of the habit intervention will be planning for context-dependent repetition. | Behavioural | Habit formation intervention |
| Physical activity planning interventionThis arm will receive the control education content, but will also be provided with family PA planning material. This material will include skill training content (workbook on how to plan for family PA). The material includes a brainstorming exercise for parents where they list physical activities they think their children have found fun in the past, as well as activities that they would find enjoyable to do as a family. We also have Canadian parental survey data on the most preferred co-physical activities for children 3-6. We will provide this material as prompts/suggestions. This list helps create the template for PA planning by contextualizing what the parents would like to do with their kids. | Behavioural | Physical activity planning intervention |
Primary outcome
Change from baseline in children's physical activity to 6 months
Time frame: Baseline and 6 months
Children's physical activity will be quantified by accelerometry. Children will wear an accelerometer for a minimum of 6 hours per day for 7 days at baseline and 6 months. Additionally this measure will assess intermediate outcomes at 6 weeks and 3 months.
2 secondary outcomes
Change from baseline to 6 months in child physical activity by parent proxy self-report
Time frame: Baseline and 6 months
Change from baseline in self-reported parental co-activity habit to 6 months
Time frame: Baseline and 6 months
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 1 Apr 2025.
- Derived from this study: PubMed 32957959Grant SJ, Beauchamp MR, Blanchard CM, Carson V, Gardner B, Warburton DER, Rhodes RE. Parents and children active together: a randomized trial protocol examining motivational, regulatory, and habitual intervention approaches. BMC Public Health. 2020 Sep 21;20(1):1436. doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-09465-z.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Undecided
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
Ryan Rhodes, PhD principal investigator
University of Victoria
Mark Beauchamp, PhD study chair
University of British Columbia
Chris Blanchard, PhD study chair
Dalhousie University
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Habit formation intervention and Physical activity planning intervention in people with Physical Activity, run by University of Victoria at 1 site in Canada.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 1 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: looking for participants now, as of the sponsor's last update on 1 Apr 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in Canada. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
Each site lists its own contact: choose the nearest one under Trial locations. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Change from baseline in children's physical activity to 6 months (time frame: Baseline and 6 months). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT03055871, which also lists 1 linked publication.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 1 Apr 2025.