TY - JOUR
T1 - A mobile health intervention to encourage physical activity in children
T2 - a randomised controlled trial
AU - Ng, Michelle
AU - Wenden, Elizabeth
AU - Lester, Leanne
AU - Westgarth, Carri
AU - Christian, Hayley
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors also acknowledge this study, in part, was funded by the Human-Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) Grant no. HAB17-017. The original PLAYCE study was supported by the Western Australian Health Promotion Foundation (Healthway #24219). Hayley Christian is supported by an Australian National Health Foundation Future Leader Fellow Fellowship (#102549) and partially by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (Project ID CE200100025). Elizabeth Wenden is supported by an Australian Research Training Program Scholarship. The funding bodies had no role in the design of the study and collection and will not be involved in data analysis or interpretation or manuscript writing.
Funding Information:
HC is supported by a National Health Foundation Future Leader Fellowship (#102549) and partially by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (Project ID CE200100025). EW is supported by an Australian Research Training Program Scholarship. Dog treat packets were sponsored by Mars Petcare Australia. We would like acknowledge all individuals and organisations who shared our story on social media, past students who have assisted with the project (Ashwini Bhatt, Jin Ang and Kira Gusterson), and Western Australian independent schools who featured the project on school newsletters. Finally, we would like to thank the children and their parents/guardians (and dogs) for their participation in the study.
Funding Information:
HC is supported by a National Health Foundation Future Leader Fellowship (#102549) and partially by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (Project ID CE200100025). EW is supported by an Australian Research Training Program Scholarship. Dog treat packets were sponsored by Mars Petcare Australia.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Background: Despite immense benefits of physical activity on health and developmental outcomes, few children achieve recommended daily levels of physical activity. Given more than half of families with children own a dog, we investigated the effect of a mobile health (mHealth) intervention to encourage dog-facilitated physical activity through increased family dog walking and children’s active play with their dog. Methods: The PLAYCE PAWS study was a three-armed randomised pilot trial conducted in Perth, Western Australia. Children aged 5-10 years with a family dog were randomised to 4 weeks of either 1) SMS-only intervention, 2) ‘SMS + pedometer’ intervention or 3) ‘usual care’ control. The mHealth intervention involved SMS messages to parents; the ‘SMS + pedometer’ group also received a dog pedometer and personalised dog steps diary. Parent-reported measures were collected at baseline, 1- and 3-months post intervention. The primary outcome was weekly frequency of family dog walking and dog play; secondary outcomes were child attachment to the dog and feasibility of the intervention. Results: A total of 150 children were randomised in staggered blocks to SMS-only (n = 50), ‘SMS + pedometer’ (n = 50) or usual care (n = 50). No differences were observed in family dog walking and dog play at 1-month. SMS-only children (OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.17, 5.83, P = 0.019) and all intervention children (OR 1.97, 95% CI 1.01, 3.86, P = 0.048) were more likely to increase total dog-facilitated physical activity (sum of family dog walking and dog play responses) at 3-months. The positive associations with total dog-facilitated physical activity disappeared (all P > 0.05) after adjusting for socio-demographic factors. Conclusions: The PLAYCE PAWS mHealth intervention did not significantly affect dog-facilitated physical activity in children. Given high levels of dog ownership in the community, SMS prompts could be a low-cost intervention to encourage more physical activity in children. Further research is needed to understand how increased interaction with the family dog impacts on children’s overall physical activity and other health and development outcomes. Trial registration: ANZCTR, ACTRN12620000288921, retrospectively registered on 4/3/2020.
AB - Background: Despite immense benefits of physical activity on health and developmental outcomes, few children achieve recommended daily levels of physical activity. Given more than half of families with children own a dog, we investigated the effect of a mobile health (mHealth) intervention to encourage dog-facilitated physical activity through increased family dog walking and children’s active play with their dog. Methods: The PLAYCE PAWS study was a three-armed randomised pilot trial conducted in Perth, Western Australia. Children aged 5-10 years with a family dog were randomised to 4 weeks of either 1) SMS-only intervention, 2) ‘SMS + pedometer’ intervention or 3) ‘usual care’ control. The mHealth intervention involved SMS messages to parents; the ‘SMS + pedometer’ group also received a dog pedometer and personalised dog steps diary. Parent-reported measures were collected at baseline, 1- and 3-months post intervention. The primary outcome was weekly frequency of family dog walking and dog play; secondary outcomes were child attachment to the dog and feasibility of the intervention. Results: A total of 150 children were randomised in staggered blocks to SMS-only (n = 50), ‘SMS + pedometer’ (n = 50) or usual care (n = 50). No differences were observed in family dog walking and dog play at 1-month. SMS-only children (OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.17, 5.83, P = 0.019) and all intervention children (OR 1.97, 95% CI 1.01, 3.86, P = 0.048) were more likely to increase total dog-facilitated physical activity (sum of family dog walking and dog play responses) at 3-months. The positive associations with total dog-facilitated physical activity disappeared (all P > 0.05) after adjusting for socio-demographic factors. Conclusions: The PLAYCE PAWS mHealth intervention did not significantly affect dog-facilitated physical activity in children. Given high levels of dog ownership in the community, SMS prompts could be a low-cost intervention to encourage more physical activity in children. Further research is needed to understand how increased interaction with the family dog impacts on children’s overall physical activity and other health and development outcomes. Trial registration: ANZCTR, ACTRN12620000288921, retrospectively registered on 4/3/2020.
KW - Children
KW - Exercise
KW - mHealth
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130048118&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12887-022-03336-9
DO - 10.1186/s12887-022-03336-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 35562656
AN - SCOPUS:85130048118
SN - 1471-2431
VL - 22
JO - BMC Pediatrics
JF - BMC Pediatrics
IS - 1
M1 - 276
ER -