School of Education, College of Human and Social Futures, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia.
Active Living Research Program, Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, NSW, 2305, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2022 Jun 10;22(1):1166. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-13424-1.
Targeting fathers may be a key strategy to increase physical activity among their preschool-aged children, but limited research exists in this area. The primary study aim was to examine the impact of a lifestyle program for fathers and their preschool-aged children on child physical activity levels.
A total of 125 fathers (aged: 38 ± 5.4 years, BMI: 28.1 ± 4.9 kg/m) and 125 preschool-aged children (aged: 3.9 ± 0.8 years, BMI z-score: 0.3 ± 0.9, 39.2% girls) recruited from Newcastle, Australia, NSW were randomised to (i) the Healthy Youngsters, Healthy Dads (HYHD) program, or (ii) wait-list control group. The program included two fathers-only workshops (2 h each) and eight father-child weekly educational and practical sessions (75 min each), plus home-based activities targeting family physical activity and nutrition. Assessments took place at baseline, 10-weeks (post-intervention) and 9-months follow-up. The primary outcome was the children's mean steps/day at 10-weeks. Secondary outcomes included: co-physical activity, fathers' physical activity levels and parenting practices for physical activity and screen time behaviours, children's fundamental movement skill (FMS) proficiency, plus accelerometer based light physical activity (LPA) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), screen time and adiposity for fathers and children. Process measures included; attendance, satisfaction, fidelity and retention. Linear mixed models estimated the treatment effect at all time-points for all outcomes.
Intention-to-treat analyses revealed a significant group-by-time effect for steps per day at 10-weeks (+ 1417, 95%CI: 449, 2384) and 9-months follow-up (+ 1480, 95%CI: 493, 2467) in intervention children compared to control. There were also favourable group-by-time effects for numerous secondary outcomes including fathers' physical activity levels, children's FMS proficiency, and several parenting constructs. No effects were observed for both fathers' and children's accelerometer based LPA or MVPA, co-physical activity, screen-time and adiposity measures. Process evaluation data revealed very high levels of satisfaction, attendance, retention, and intervention fidelity.
Engaging fathers in a lifestyle program is a promising strategy to increase physical activity among preschool-aged children. Additional benefits to fathers' physical activity levels, children's FMS proficiency and parenting practices further support the importance of engaging fathers to improve family health outcomes.
Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12619000105145 . Registered 24/01/2019.
针对父亲进行干预可能是提高学龄前儿童身体活动水平的关键策略，但这方面的研究有限。主要研究目的是检验针对父亲及其学龄前儿童的生活方式计划对儿童身体活动水平的影响。
共有 125 名父亲（年龄：38±5.4 岁，BMI：28.1±4.9kg/m）和 125 名学龄前儿童（年龄：3.9±0.8 岁，BMI 标准差得分：0.3±0.9，39.2%女孩）从澳大利亚新南威尔士州纽卡斯尔招募，随机分为（i）健康年轻家庭，健康父亲（HYHD）计划组，或（ii）候补名单对照组。该计划包括两次仅父亲参加的研讨会（每次 2 小时）和八次父亲-儿童每周教育和实践课程（每次 75 分钟），以及以家庭为基础的针对家庭身体活动和营养的活动。评估在基线、10 周（干预后）和 9 个月随访时进行。主要结局为 10 周时儿童的平均每日步数。次要结局包括：共同身体活动、父亲的身体活动水平以及针对身体活动和屏幕时间行为的养育实践、儿童基本运动技能（FMS）熟练程度、以及基于加速度计的低强度身体活动（LPA）和中等至剧烈身体活动（MVPA）、父亲和儿童的屏幕时间和肥胖度。过程测量包括：出勤率、满意度、保真度和保留率。线性混合模型在所有时间点估计了所有结局的治疗效果。
意向治疗分析显示，与对照组相比，干预组儿童在 10 周和 9 个月随访时的每日步数均有显著的组间-时间效应（分别增加了 1417，95%CI：449，2384 和 1480，95%CI：493，2467）。对于父亲的身体活动水平、儿童的 FMS 熟练程度以及多个养育实践等多项次要结局，也观察到了有利的组间-时间效应。对于父亲和儿童的基于加速度计的 LPA 或 MVPA、共同身体活动、屏幕时间和肥胖度测量，均未观察到效果。过程评估数据显示，满意度、出勤率、保留率和干预保真度非常高。
让父亲参与生活方式计划是提高学龄前儿童身体活动水平的一种有前景的策略。对父亲身体活动水平、儿童 FMS 熟练程度和养育实践的额外益处进一步支持了让父亲参与以改善家庭健康结果的重要性。
澳大利亚和新西兰临床试验注册中心：ACTRN12619000105145。注册于 2019 年 1 月 24 日。
