Institute of Sport Sciences and Physiotherapy, University of Tartu, Ujula 4, Tartu, 51008, Estonia.
BMC Public Health. 2023 Aug 25;23(1):1627. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-16528-4.
Current global trend of insufficient physical activity (PA) among children and adolescents highlights the necessity of finding effective ways to promote PA in childhood. Self-determination theory (SDT) has demonstrated efficacy as a conceptual framework for developing interventions aimed at promoting diverse health behaviours. Parents have potential to influence children's health behaviours to a great extent, which could be enhanced from an online, self-paced training to gain knowledge on how to support children's intrinsic motivation towards particular health behaviour. In this pilot study, we developed and tested an online SDT-informed need-supportive training for parents, enabling them to interact with their children in a way to support their intrinsic motivation towards leisure-time physical activity.
Sixty eight students (M = 12.5 ± 0.72) and one parent for each child were randomly assigned to the 6-week intervention condition or control condition. Students completed psychological measures (i.e., perceptions of parents' need-supportive behaviours, basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration, autonomous and controlled forms of motivation, as well as social cognition beliefs towards leisure-time PA) and self-reported PA pre-intervention, post-intervention, and one-month after the intervention. Repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted to test the effects of the intervention condition and time.
While a statistically significant intervention effect on children's leisure-time PA was not found, students in the intervention group reported higher, albeit marginal, perceptions of intrinsic motivation (F(2, 84) = 3.095, p = 0.050) and lower perceptions of introjected regulation (F(2, 88) = 3.107, p = 0.050) and autonomy frustration (F(2, 84) = 2.987, p = 0.056) at follow-up. Contrary to expectations, children in the control group demonstrated higher perceptions of intention (F(2, 84) = 4.838, p = 0.010) and effort (F(2, 80) = 3.473, p = 0.036) towards leisure-time physical activity at follow-up. No significant changes were found in perceptions of need-supportive behaviour from parents, attitude, and perceived behavioural control.
Our pilot study highlights the importance of parental training and the potential for SDT-informed interventions to support children's intrinsic motivation towards physical activity. Further research is needed to test the intervention in other domains and combine interventions in several domains to have the highest impact.
This pilot study is part of preparation for the main study, prospectively registered in ISRCTN registry as ISRCTN78373974 (15.12.2022). The current stage of the main study is 'recruiting'.
目前全球儿童和青少年体力活动不足的趋势突出了寻找有效方法促进儿童体力活动的必要性。自我决定理论 (SDT) 已被证明是一种有效的概念框架，可用于制定旨在促进各种健康行为的干预措施。父母在很大程度上有可能影响孩子的健康行为，通过在线、自我 paced 的培训来增强他们的知识，以支持孩子对特定健康行为的内在动机。在这项初步研究中，我们为父母开发并测试了一种基于 SDT 的在线支持需求的培训，使他们能够以支持孩子对休闲时间体力活动内在动机的方式与孩子互动。
68 名学生（M=12.5±0.72）和每个孩子的一位家长被随机分配到 6 周的干预组或对照组。学生在干预前、干预后和干预后一个月完成心理测量（即感知父母的支持需求行为、基本心理需求满足和挫折、自主和控制形式的动机以及对休闲时间 PA 的社会认知信念）和自我报告的 PA。进行重复测量方差分析以检验干预条件和时间的影响。
虽然没有发现对儿童休闲时间 PA 的统计学显著干预效果，但干预组的学生报告了更高的内在动机感知（F(2, 84)=3.095，p=0.050）和更低的内摄调节感知（F(2, 88)=3.107，p=0.050）和自主挫折感（F(2, 84)=2.987，p=0.056）。出乎意料的是，对照组的儿童在随访时表现出更高的意图感知（F(2, 84)=4.838，p=0.010）和努力感知（F(2, 80)=3.473，p=0.036）休闲时间的体力活动。父母的支持需求行为、态度和感知行为控制方面没有发现明显变化。
我们的初步研究强调了父母培训的重要性和基于 SDT 的干预措施支持儿童对体力活动内在动机的潜力。需要进一步研究在其他领域测试干预措施，并结合多个领域的干预措施以产生最大影响。
本初步研究是主要研究的准备阶段，在 ISRCTN 注册处作为 ISRCTN78373974（2022 年 12 月 15 日）进行了前瞻性注册。主要研究的当前阶段是“招募”。
