None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Background: Physical activity is reduced during the post-partum period. Facebook is frequently used by Australian mothers, and offers flexibility, high levels of engagement and the ability to disseminate information and advice via social contacts. The Mums Step it Up Program is a newly developed 50 day team-based physical activity intervention delivered via a Facebook app. The program involves post-partum women working in teams of 4-8 friends aiming to achieve 10,000 steps per day measured by a pedometer. Women are encouraged to use the app to log their daily steps and undertake social and supportive interactions with their friends and other participants. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of the Mums Step it Up Program. Method/Design: A sample of 126 women up to 12 months post-partum will be recruited through community-based health and family services. Participants will be randomly allocated into one of three groups: control, pedometer only and the Mums Step it Up Program. Assessments will be completed at baseline, 6 weeks and 6 months. The primary outcome (objective physical activity) and the secondary outcomes (sleep quality and quantity, depressive symptoms, weight and quality of life) will be used to determine the effectiveness of the Mums Step it Up Program compared with the control and pedometer only groups. Analyses will be undertaken on an intention to treat basis using random effects mixed modeling. The effect of theorized mediators (physical activity attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control) will also be examined. Discussion: This study will provide information about the potential of a Facebook app for the delivery of health behavior interventions. If this intervention proves to be effective it will be released on a mass scale and promoted to the general public.
Interventions
Recruitment will occur on a rolling basis over a 6-12 month period. The team forming process occurs in two stages. Stage one involves recruitment of team captains, via advertising flyers in community-based health and family services around greater metropolitan Adelaide. Potential participants who respond to the flyer will be directed to the Mums Step it Up Facebook app, where they will view an online information video and complete a brief online form to confirm their eligibility, at which point
Recruitment will occur on a rolling basis over a 6-12 month period. The team forming process occurs in two stages. Stage one involves recruitment of team captains, via advertising flyers in community-based health and family services around greater metropolitan Adelaide. Potential participants who respond to the flyer will be directed to the Mums Step it Up Facebook app, where they will view an online information video and complete a brief online form to confirm their eligibility, at which point they will become a “team captain”. They will then use the Facebook app to invite eligible friends from their existing Facebook network to join their team (Stage two of team formation). The Facebook app will send invitations to the nominated potential team members inviting them to join their friend’s (the team captain’s) team. These women will view an informative video, register their details and provide preliminary consent to participate in the study. Team captains receive daily emails informing them of their friends’ responses to the invitations. Once at least 3 friends have joined the team, the team captain uses the app to finalize their team. At this point, all participants in the team will be contacted to arrange a face to face appointment with the Principal Investigator where full informed consent will be gained and baseline assessments completed. Once this assessment has been completed for all members of a team, the team will be randomly allocated (using block randomization) to one of three conditions Arm 1: Mums Step it Up Program. This is a 50 day team-based physical activity intervention delivered via a Facebook app. Participants randomised to this intervention group will be given a pedometer and encouraged to take 10,000 steps per day with the cumulative goal of 500,000 steps. Participants will use the Facebook app to record their daily step counts, monitor their own progress as well as their teams and to interact with their team mates and other women in the Mums Step it Up Program. Arm 2: Pedometer only. Participants randomised to this group will be given written advice on the health benefits of achieving 10,000 steps per day and tips on how to achieve this and will recieve a pedometer and log book to record their daily step counts. They will be asked to wear the pedometer and record their steps on a daily basis for a total of 50 days.
Sponsors
School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Open (masking not used) (Subject)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
0 to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
To be eligible women must be: 1) up to 12 months post-partum, whether it is their first or subsequent child, 2) current Facebook users, 3) able to read and understand English, 4) and live in greater metropolitan Adelaide.
Exclusion criteria
Women should not have a medical condition that would prevent them from participating in a walking program or be pregnant, or planning to fall pregnant in the next three months.
Outcome results
None listed