The Active Breed randomised controlled trial: A weight loss and lifestyle modification program for male football fans in South-Western Sydney

Active Breed is a 12-week men's health intervention targeting: - weight loss through sustainable healthy lifestyle behaviours - physical activity, including goal setting, strategies to increase physical activity and overcoming barriers - nutrition, including increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, reducing saturated fat, salt, sugar and processed food intake - mental health, including depression and anxiety and practical strategies to deal with stress - domestic and family violence prevention, including recognising signs of abuse and violence The intervention will be tested as a two-armed randomised controlled trial, with a wait-list control group who will receive the intervention at a later date. Group-based (face-to-face) sessions will be held once per week for 12 weeks at Belmore Sports Ground (Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs' home stadium). Each weekly session will run for 90 minutes and will comprise an educational component (45-60 minutes) and a physical activity component (30-45 minutes). These sessions will be delivered by trained Active Breed facilitators, with support from content area experts including qualified exercise scientists and personal trainers (physical activity), mental health support services (representative from an organisation such as the South Western Sydney Primary Health Network), and domestic and family violence experts (representatives from White Ribbon Australia). Active Breed facilitators will have expertise in physical activity (e.g., PhD qualified in health and physical activity promotion, qualified exercise scientists). The physical activity facilitators for this trial completed relevant training prior to the delivery of the pilot RCT (ANZCTRN12618000740291) and delivered the physical activity sessions in the pilot RCT. These facilitators will attend a brief training session prior to delivery of this trial, with at least one senior member (PhD qualified) of the research team, to revisit strategies to engage men, build rapport and promote healthy lifestyle messages. Any new facilitators or guest presenters for this trial will be debriefed by a senior member of the research team before delivering an education session to ensure educational content is gender appropriate and engaging. At least one member of the research team will be in attendance at all sessions, and facilitators will be involved in a debriefing session with the researcher/s after each session and at the end of the 12-week program to identify strengths and areas for improvement. One topic will be covered in each educational session, and these topics will be scheduled prior. The content delivery will vary in each session, and activities will include brief, interactive presentations and demonstrations (e.g., cooking class) and group discussion activities. The weekly physical activity component of the sessions will include low to moderate intensity football skills and drills (intensity based on Borg RPE), small-sided touch football games, and supervised gym sessions. All physical activity sessions will be delivered by a qualified exercise scientist. All participants will be provided with program resources including an Active Breed player manual, generic information about health and health services (readily available, to be provided by external facilitators from external stakeholders), equipment pack (including a training shirt, towel, drink bottle and backpack), and exclusive access to a participant website where program materials will be made available outside regular weekly sessions. Participants will be encouraged to engage with the website at least weekly to support healthy lifestyle behaviours beyond the scope of the weekly sessions. Each intervention participant will receive a unique login allowing exclusive access to the website. Adherence to the intervention will be monitored by attendance records at the weekly sessions, and a post-program evaluation exploring the importance of topics and quality of program elements will be completed by all participants at the end of the 12-week program.