Parent-Based Physical Activity Intervention for Black Families

Overview

This study is an 8-week parent-based physical activity intervention focusing on increasing physical activity in preschool-aged children. The participants will be randomized into two groups: control and intervention. During the 8 weeks those in the intervention group will receive weekly newsletters and have weekly phone calls with a physical activity coach. The material in weekly newsletters and focus of the phone calls will be on behavior changes related to physical activity. Parents will be encouraged to complete physical activity alone and with their child. The control group will not have any contact with study staff during the 8-week intervention and continue with normal behaviors. Physical activity levels in the parents and children will be measures before and after the intervention.

This research will examine how preschool-aged children's physical activity levels will be affected based off an intervention that encourages physical activity engagement between parents and children. A secondary purpose is to determine if the intervention impacts the children's body mass index. Black parents with a child between the ages of 2-5 will be recruited to participate in the study. Before the intervention begins, parents will complete questionnaires on demographics, health history, physical activity knowledge, family physical activity, and parenting styles. Then both parents and children will have weight, height, resting heart rate and blood pressure measured. Finally, the parents and children will be given physical activity monitors to wear for 7 days. After wearing the activity monitors the dyads will be randomized into either a control or intervention group. The control group will continue with their normal activities for 8 weeks. Those in the intervention group will receive weekly newsletters and a 30-min/week telephone call with an activity coach over 8 weeks. The newsletters and phone calls will discuss information related to physical activity change. After the 8-week time period, all parent-child dyads will complete the same questionnaires and measurements and wear the activity monitors again.