"We Are an Active Family": Promoting Child Physical Activity Through Social Identity Formation in the Family System

Summary

The purpose of our study is to explore the effectiveness of physical activity (PA) identity formation in the family system as a promotor of long-term PA. The primary research question is:

Does a family identity formation condition (with education+planning) result in increased child moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA (MVPA) compared to a standard comparison education and planning condition at six months? Hypothesis: Child MVPA will be higher for the identity formation condition in comparison to the more standard PA education+planning condition at six months.

Conditions

• Physical Activity
• Social Identity

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Social Identity

This group will receive the same content as the education+planning as well as two additional sessions. This includes short overviews of the benefits of PA as a family, brainstorming how a family can each assist each other in PA, and an activity for developing a family PA action plan. Behavior change techniques such as identity salience, identity similarity, and identity fit and contrast are included in the coaching session include. This will be supplemented by an organization of fun family PA roles for all members (e.g., activity planner, goal setter, supporter, etc.) to instill involvement as well as items (creation of a family PA t-shirt, family PA photos and display, etc.) to instill distinctiveness, which is a central feature of a social identity. Worksheets and discussion will be included. The second session will involve only the parent(s) to focus on parental support identity and the content is based on the behavior change principles of self-identity theory.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Diabetes Canada

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Victoria

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Ryan Rhodes, PhD · University of Victoria

• Chris Blanshard, PhD · Dalhousie University

• Valerie Carson, PhD · University of Alberta

• Kurt Smith, PhD · University of Victoria

• Mark Beauchamp, PhD · University of British Columbia

• Shaelyn Strachan, PhD · University of Manitoba

• Leigh Vanderloo, PhD · ParticipACTION

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

6 Years

Max Age

12 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-08-10

Primary Completion

2026-03-31

Completion

2026-03-31

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations