Parent-focused online intervention to promote parents’ physical literacy and support children’s physical activity: results from a quasi-experimental trial
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CUHK Authors
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AbstractBackground The development of physical literacy (PL) early in life may influence children's subsequent physical activity (PA) participation and consequent health benefits across the life course. Interventions designed for parents are lacking, but such efforts can potentially enhance the PL of parents and their children's PA participation. Additionally, there is insufficient evidence to support the feasibility of delivering a PL intervention using an online format. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of a parent-focused, theory-driven, online-delivered intervention designed to improve the parents' PL and children's PA behaviors. Methods A non-randomized trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of the program. 224 Hong Kong families (primary school-aged children and their parents) registered to the program were considered the experimental group and were exposed to an online intervention over three months. Another 220 families in Hong Kong were considered the comparison group and did not receive any intervention. Outcome measures included PA behaviors (daily steps and moderate-to-vigorous PA), parent-child co-activity behaviors, family PA routines, and parent perceived PL. Linear mixed models were used to analyze the differences in terms of changes in measured outcomes between groups over time. Results No significant group-by-time effects were found for children's or parents' PA behaviors. In terms of the family Co-PA routines, a small positive effect size in favor of the experimental group was found (p = .44, d = 0.2). Group-by-time effects favorable to the experimental group was detected for parent-child co-activity (p < .001, d = 0.7) and parental PL (p < .001, d = 0.9) at post-intervention. The results demonstrated that the intervention was acceptable and that there was potential for scale up. Conclusions Findings indicated that the intervention was effective in increasing parent-child co-activity and parent perceived PL. During the pandemic, online intervention delivery was found to be feasible. Using this mode of delivery, the intervention has the potential to reach a wide population in the local context.
Acceptance Date05/07/2022
All Author(s) ListHa AS, He Q, Lubans DR, Chan CH, Ng JYY
Journal nameBMC Public Health
Year2022
Month7
Day12
Volume Number22
Issue Number1
PublisherBMC
Article number1330
ISSN1471-2458
LanguagesEnglish-United Kingdom
KeywordsParent-focused intervention, Physical literacy, Primary school children, Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
Web of Science Subject CategoriesPublic, Environmental & Occupational Health;Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
