An interventional study of Self Regulation and PA Support & Family Social Identity in Physical Activity and Family Functioning, sponsored by University of Victoria. Recruiting at 1 site in Canada. Open to participants aged 6 Years to 12 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-06-26.
Sponsored by University of Victoria · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
The goal of this trial is to find out whether adding identity-building and self-regulation training to basic healthy-living education helps families with inactive children (ages 6-12) become more cohesive and physically active. The main question it aims to answer is:
Does the identity + self-regulation + education program improve family cohesion more than (a) self-regulation + education or (b) education alone?
Researchers will compare three groups-identity+self-regulation+education (ID), self-regulation+education (SR), and education-only (ED)-to see which produces the greatest improvements.
Participants will:
The primary objective of this study is to test the efficacy of three family physical activity (PA) interventions on a key family functioning outcome-family cohesion-through increased PA in children and parent-child co-PA. Our study tests three intervention conditions: 1) identity (ID; promotion of a PA parenting identities + self-regulation skills + education), 2) self-regulation (SR; promotion of PA parenting self-regulation skills + education) and 3) education (ED; an education about PA control condition). It is hypothesised that (H1): The ID condition will show significantly larger changes in family cohesion compared to the two other conditions after six-months (primary end-point) and (H2): The SR condition will show significantly larger changes in family cohesion compared to the ED control condition after six-months.
There are three secondary objectives for this study. First, this study aims to assess the impact of the three interventions on the remaining family-functioning dimensions-flexibility and organisation-and on behavioural outcomes (child MVPA and parent-child co-PA) at the 6-month end-point. The ID condition is hypothesized to lead to significantly greater increases in family flexibility, family organization, child MVPA and parent-child co-PA compared to the SR and ED conditions after six months (H3), with the SR condition also expected to outperform the ED condition in these PA outcomes (H4).
Second, this study will also investigate whether group differences in child and parent PA and family functioning outcomes can be explained through a mediation model based on the Multi-Process Action Control (M-PAC) framework. It is hypothesized that changes in child MVPA and parent-child co-PA will mediate the relationship between the intervention groups and family functioning outcomes. These changes in PA behaviors are expected to be predicted by alterations in family social identity and parental PA support identity, which will, in turn, be influenced by parental attitudes, perceptions of control (reflective processes), and behavioral self-regulation (regulatory processes) regarding child PA (H5).
Third, the present study will explore the potential moderating effects of seasonal variation, child sex, dual/single-parent status, parent sex and gender, child age, intervention adherence, and the type and format of PA on the primary outcomes across the three intervention conditions. While no specific hypotheses are pre-set for these factors, it is anticipated that participation in PA may decrease during winter due to weather conditions, and single-parent families might face more barriers to parent-child co-PA, leading to lower participation levels. Additionally, the composition and frequency patterns of child MVPA may influence family functioning outcomes differently across the intervention conditions.
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This study's planned enrollment of 165 is above the median of 60 across 8,388 interventional studies indexed under Motor Activity.
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Participants will be at least one parent with at least one child between the ages of 6 and 12 years.
Families (parents and/or guardians and children) residing in Canada. Children that participate in \<60 minutes/day of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA).
Exclusion Criteria:
If child is meeting the current physical activity guidelines >=60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day.
If the participant does not pass the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PARQ) If children's age falls outside the 6-12 year range
The Education condition package will consist of Canada's PA guidelines, information about the benefits of child and adult PA, healthy living and a breakdown of ways for the parent to help their child achieve this PA.
Behavioral: Education
The SR condition will receive all of the same education material as the education condition in addition to skill training content (how to plan for family PA) based on our prior family trials. Families will be instructed to plan for "when," "where," "how," and "what" PA will be performed, and to create back-up plans commensurate with the creation of action and coping planning.
Behavioral: Self Regulation · Behavioral: Education
The ID condition receives the same education and self-regulation content as the other groups, but with additional activities designed to strengthen (i) parents' PA-support identity and (ii) the family's shared PA social identity. Session 1 involves only the parent(s) and focuses on parental support identity. The content is based on the behaviour change principles of self-identity theory that should lead to increases in self-identity. This session's activities include: 1) bringing awareness to the concept of identity and being a role model, 2) an activity on finding the meaning and value of parental support of child PA, 3) an activity on setting prioritization rules around parental support for child PA in comparison to other parenting responsibilities and values (brainstormed), 4) developing an affirmation for parental support self-talk, and 5) planning ways to visually demonstrate the parental support identity for self-categorization (e.g., on social media, pictures in frames).
Behavioral: Self Regulation · Behavioral: PA Support & Family Social Identity · Behavioral: Education
How to plan for Family PA
Exercises that strengthen parents' PA-support identity and a shared active-family identity through values reflection, role-modelling, visualization, and visible "active family" cues.
Information about healthy living (e.g., PA, sleep hygiene and healthy eating)
Family cohesion
Family cohension will be assessed using FAD \& FACES IV subscale = 1 = Strongly Disagree; 2 = Generally Disagree; 3 = Undecided; 4 = Generally Agree; 5 = Strongly Agree
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months
Family functioning outcomes (i.e., family organisation and flexibility)
Family organisation and flexibility will be assessed using FAD \& FACES IV subscale = 1 = Strongly Disagree; 2 = Generally Disagree; 3 = Undecided; 4 = Generally Agree; 5 = Strongly Agree
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months
Children's moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA)
Children's physical activity will be quantified by Self Report using Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children (PAQ-C)
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months
Parent-child intergenerational activity measured via parent self-report
For parent-child co-PA, the Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire will be used.
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months
Parental support and M-PAC Constructs
Parental support for child PA: 6-item activity-related parenting practices scale Parental support identity: 3-item version of the Exercise Identity Scale Family PA identity: 4-item scale from Doosje, Ellemers 's ingroup identification measure Parental support habits: 4-item version of the Self-Reported Habit Strength Index Behavioral regulation of parental support: 11-item Physical Activity Regulation Scale Perceived capability and perceived opportunity: 7-item perceived control measure Attitude: 6-item affective and instrumental attitude scale Parental intention: 2-item decisional intention and intention strength scale
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months
Plan to share: No
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