App-based Motor Skills Intervention in Primary School and Home Settings

Summary

The objective of this trial is to evaluate the effectiveness of a mobile app-based motor skills intervention (DigiKids RCT) on motor competence, physical activity, and perceived motor competence compared with standard school practices in primary school children. In addition, the study will examine other factors such as child-specific and family-related factors that might influence the findings.

Conditions

• Healthy
• Motor Activity

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

App-based Motor Skills Intervention

The DigiKids intervention will be delivered over 12 weeks as part of the school curriculum using the Geego Kids application. Intervention includes two main components delivered via Geego Kids application: (1) Teacher interface. Two 3-minute structured movement breaks each school day and 18 weekly homework assignments including monitoring of completition. (2) User interface for children and guardians. Guardians are instructed to support homework assignments. The total activity time with the intervention during the school hours is approximately 6 minutes per day, corresponding to 30 minutes per week. At home, the estimated minimum activity time is approximately 45 minutes per week. A total estimated activity time of the intervention is 900 minutes (approximately 75 minutes per week over 12 weeks). In addition, teachers and children with guardians are permitted free use of the application.

OTHER

Standard school practices

Control schools will continue standard school practices as usual. After the 7-month follow-up, the waitlist control group will be offered one-year access to the application and will receive the intervention materials as described for the intervention group below. During this period, teachers in these schools may decide how to use the intervention materials and the application in their teaching practices.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Juho Vainio Foundation

  collaborator OTHER

• UKK Institute

  collaborator OTHER

• Tampere University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Pilvikki Absetz, Professor · Tampere University

• Jenny H Gustafsson, Doctoral researcher · Tampere University

• Eero A Haapala, Docent · South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences

• Mari H Leppänen, Docent · UKK Institute

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

6 Years

Max Age

8 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-08-10

Primary Completion

2027-01-31

Completion

2027-05-31

Countries

• Finland

Study Locations