None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is a lifelong disorder that makes learning and moving very difficult. DCD affects 1 in 20 children globally. It increases rates of anxiety and depression even in very young children, impacts negatively on the family unit, and leads to poorer physical and mental health in adulthood. Physical activity (PA) is known to improve mood, reduce depressive symptoms, increase self-esteem and act as a preventative for poor mental health. While PA is a cost-effective and accessible intervention, movement difficulties mean that for children with DCD, PA is challenging. This project will utilise an invitation-only Facebook group for parents of children with DCD, alongside an educational website, to educate, support and motivate parents to engage their children in appropriate PA. We expect this program to increase PA levels and lead to improvements in mental health and quality of life for children with DCD. As many children with DCD have co-occurring Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and PA is thought to improve symptoms of ADHD, we will also explore whether ratings of ADHD symptoms improve post-intervention.
Interventions
Participants in the intervention group will undertake a 12-week program, from their own homes, which will require them to:
1) Enrol in an invitation-only, private Facebook group.
2) Agree to both one parent, and their child with DCD, wearing an activity tracking watch each day.
3) Agree to sync the watches to the appropriate, nominated smart phone applications each day.
4) Complete baseline questionnaires.
5) Complete a weekly data log using the smart phone application to record PA levels.
6) Co
Participants in the intervention group will undertake a 12-week program, from their own homes, which will require them to: 1) Enrol in an invitation-only, private Facebook group. 2) Agree to both one parent, and their child with DCD, wearing an activity tracking watch each day. 3) Agree to sync the watches to the appropriate, nominated smart phone applications each day. 4) Complete baseline questionnaires. 5) Complete a weekly data log using the smart phone application to record PA levels. 6) Complete a weekly physical activity questionnaire. 7) At monthly intervals, complete the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, SWAN Rating Scale for ADHD, and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory. 8) The measures in (7) will also be completed at 1- and 3-month post-intervention time points. Weekly physical activity logs and questionnaire will take approximately 20 mins to complete; the monthly questionnaire pack will require an additional 30-45 minutes to complete. The intervention will utilise a dual method (website + invitation only Facebook group) of online education and engagement. A static website will be used to host educational materials and videos, which will take approximately 30-60 mins to review each week. The initial information hosted on the website will be educational material concerning the impact of DCD and the benefit of PA on mental health. Each week of the intervention, new information, based around a set theme for the week, will be uploaded. The weekly topics will be finalised following the focus group analysis and the resources produced will be created in line with the principles of self-determination theory (SDT) and the behaviour change framework of Michie et al. [2011]. According to this theory, intrinsic motivation is a key determinate of physical activity engagement, linked to high levels of autonomy, competence and relatedness [Deci & Ryan, 1985]. Additionally, another form of motivation identified by SDT, identified regulation, has been recognised as a key factor in motivating parents to increase their own, and their families, physical activity levels [e.g. Emm-Collison et al., 2019; Solomon-Moore et al., 2017]. Based on this, the resources produced will aim to educate families to increase both their own, and their child’s, sense of autonomy, competence and feelings of relatedness in regard to physical activity (intrinsic motivation), while also providing education around the benefits of physical activity on mental health, to increase the value and importance of physical activity (identified regulation). Resources will include short, informative videos, slide shows, blogs and links to further information. These resources will be promoted actively via the invitation-only Facebook group, which all participating parents will be required to join. The study Facebook group will be moderated by a research assistant. They will be tasked with linking and reinforcing information from the static website to the group, as well as using evidence-based behaviour change techniques to provide further instructions on goal setting and monitoring, general encouragement, address barriers and facilitate discussion boards for information sharing and social support. Participants will receive digital badges as ‘rewards’ for meeting goals, consistency, engagement etc. [Ola et al., 2020; Schoenfelder, et al., 2017; Mendoza et al., 2017]. This group will also serve as a way to remind participants to complete surveys as required and sync/maintain their activity tracker. The latter will allow researchers to access information regarding daily step counts and active minutes. Facebook engagement will be recorded weekly using the number of participant 'likes', comments, views and posts within the group page. Parents failing to complete the weekly and/or monthly questionnaires will receive reminders via email and/or text message at 24 and 48 hours and a final reminder will be sent after 72 hours. The intervention will be run by a research assistant with a minimum qualification of a Masters degree in Psychology, overseen by the research team, which includes four clinical psychologists and one psychiatrist.
Sponsors
Victoria University
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Parent or carer (aged 18+) of a child, aged 5-10 years, who has a diagnosis of Developmental Coordination Disorder or Dyspraxia. Families need to be based in Australia, will need to be fluent English speakers, and have access to a Facebook account. They need to consent to join an invitation-only, closed Facebook account and agree to the various points outlined in the procedure around wearing the physical activity trackers and syncing these to the prescribed applications. Children with co-occurring developmental disorders will not be excluded, but if on medication for co-occurring disorders, a stable medication regime will be required.
Exclusion criteria
Intellectual disability, in either child or parent/carer; non-English speaker; parent/carer or child has a physical disability (not including DCD) that would impact on their ability to undertake physical activity; parent/carer or child has a medical condition that would impact their ability to undertake physical activity.
Outcome results
None listed