A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Theory-Based Intervention to Improve Parental Support for Preschool Children's Health Behaviors
试验速览
- 阶段
- 不适用
- 状态
- 尚未招募
- 发起方
- 入组人数
- 80
- 试验地点
- 1
- 主要终点
- Mean score on the Parental Support for Child Physical Activity Scale
研究概览
简要总结
The goal of this study is to test whether a 4-week online program can help parents better support health behaviors of their preschool children (aged 3-6 years). Preschool children often rely on their parents to build health behaviors, such as being physically active, limiting screen time, drinking fewer sugar-sweetened beverages, and washing their hands regularly.
The main questions this study aims to answer are:
Does the program improve parents' motivation, planning, and habits related to supporting their children's health behaviors? Do parents who receive the program provide more support for their children? Do preschool children in the program show improvements in health behaviors? Can improvements explained by changes in parents' psychological factors?
Researchers will compare parents who receive the program immediately to parents in a waitlist control group.
Participants will:
Complete online questionnaires before the program, after the program, and one month later (Intervention group only). Complete eight online sessions over four weeks using a mobile program.
详细描述
Background Early childhood is a critical developmental period for establishing long-term health habits. Preschool children have limited capacity for self-regulation and depend heavily on parental guidance to adopt and maintain health behaviors. Therefore, interventions targeting parents may be particularly effective in promoting child health behaviors during this stage.
Previous research has primarily focused on motivational and self-regulatory determinants of parental support behaviors. However, intention-based models often fail to account for automatic processes, such as habit formation, which may contribute to the intention-behavior gap. To address this limitation, the present study integrates motivational, volitional, and automatic processes into a integrated social cognitive framework to better explain parental decision-making in supporting children's health behaviors.
Study Objectives and Hypotheses The primary objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of a 4-week theory-based intervention targeting parental psychological determinants and behavioral outcomes.
It is hypothesized that:
- Parents in the intervention group will demonstrate greater improvements in motivational variables (e.g., attitudes, perceived norms, self-efficacy), volitional variables (e.g., action planning, coping planning, action control), and habit compared to the waitlist control group.
- Parents in the intervention group will report greater increases in supporting behaviors, and their children will show greater improvements in health behaviors compared to the waitlist control group.
- Changes in motivational, volitional, and automatic variables will mediate the relationship between group assignment and behavioral outcomes.
研究设计
- 研究类型
- Interventional
- 分配方式
- Randomized
- 干预模型
- Parallel
- 主要目的
- Treatment
- 盲法
- Double (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
入排标准
- 年龄范围
- 18 Years 至 —（Adult, Older Adult）
- 性别
- All
- 接受健康志愿者
- 是
入选标准
- •Parent of at least one child aged 3-6 years
- •Living in the same household as the child
- •Aged 18 years or older
- •Able to read and understand Chinese
- •Willing to participate in a 4-week online intervention program
排除标准
- •Self-reported diagnosis of a severe psychiatric disorder that may interfere with participation
- •Cognitive impairment or language difficulties that prevent comprehension of study materials or completion of questionnaires
- •Currently participating in another structured parenting or health behavior intervention program
研究组 & 干预措施
4-week multiple behavior change online intervention group
Participants in intervention group will receive a 4-week online intervention
干预措施: A 4-week theory-based online intervention targeting parental support (Behavioral)
Waitlist control group
Participants in waitlist control group will receive the same intervention when the study is over
结局指标
主要结局
Mean score on the Parental Support for Child Physical Activity Scale
时间窗: Baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 1-month follow-up
Parental support for child physical activity will be assessed using a 3-item parent-reported questionnaire. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale. The total score is calculated as the mean of the three items, with higher scores indicating greater parental support for child physical activity. Items assess encouragement of outdoor play, co-participation in physical activity, and providing transportation for physical activity.
Mean score on the Parental Support for Child Screen Time Reduction Scale
时间窗: Baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 1-month follow-up
Assessed using a 2-item parent-reported questionnaire rated on a 7-point Likert scale. The outcome is calculated as the mean score across items, with higher scores indicating greater parental support for reducing child screen time. Items assess encouraging children to stop screen use and reminding children to follow screen-time rules.
Mean score on the Parental Support for Child Handwashing Scale
时间窗: Baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 1-month follow-up
Measured using a 3-item parent-reported questionnaire rated on a 7-point Likert scale. The outcome is the mean item score, with higher scores indicating greater parental support for child handwashing. Items assess teaching proper handwashing methods, reminders before meals and after toilet use, and parental modeling of handwashing behavior.
Mean score on the Parental Support for Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Reduction Scale
时间窗: Baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 1-month follow-up
Measured using a 4-item parent-reported questionnaire rated on a 7-point Likert scale. The outcome is calculated as the mean score across items, with higher scores indicating greater parental support for reducing children's sugar-sweetened beverage intake. Items assess limiting beverage intake, encouraging healthier alternatives, discussing health consequences, and parental role modeling.
Average daily outdoor physical activity time of the child (hours/day)
时间窗: Baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 1-month follow-up
Parent-reported child outdoor physical activity time assessed separately for weekdays and weekends over the past two weeks. Average daily physical activity is calculated as: (5 × weekday activity hours + 2 × weekend activity hours) / 7. Higher values indicate greater physical activity.
Average daily child screen time (hours/day)
时间窗: Baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 1-month follow-up
Parent-reported average daily time the child spends using screens (television, computers, tablets, mobile phones, or video games).
Mean score on the Child Handwashing Behavior Scale
时间窗: Baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 1-month follow-up
Measured using a 3-item parent-reported questionnaire rated on a 7-point Likert scale. The mean score across items is calculated, with higher scores indicating more frequent handwashing behavior. Items assess handwashing after returning home, before meals, and adherence to recommended handwashing procedures.
Frequency of child sugar-sweetened beverage consumption
时间窗: Baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 1-month follow-up
Parent-reported frequency of child consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (excluding 100% fruit juice), rated on a 6-point scale ranging from 1 (none) to 6 (three or more times per week). Higher scores indicate greater consumption frequency.
次要结局
- Subjective Norm Toward Supporting Child Health Behaviors(Baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 1-month follow-up)
- Parental Attitude Toward Supporting Child Health Behaviors(Baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 1-month follow-up)
- Parental Self-Efficacy for Supporting Child Health Behaviors(Baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 1-month follow-up)
- Perceived Social Norm Supporting Child Health Behaviors(Baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 1-month follow-up)
- Social Support for Parental Support Behaviors(Baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 1-month follow-up)
- Behavioral Intention to Support Child Health Behaviors(Baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 1-month follow-up)
- Action Planning for Supporting Child Health Behaviors(Baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 1-month follow-up)
- Coping Planning for Supporting Child Health Behaviors(Baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 1-month follow-up)
- Action Control for Supporting Child Health Behaviors(Baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 1-month follow-up)
- Behavioral Automaticity of Parental Support(Baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 1-month follow-up)
研究者
Chun-Qing Zhang
Associate Professor
Sun Yat-sen University