CirqAll: a feasibility study of a novel co-designed online training program for circus coaches working with preschool-aged children born preterm

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The aim of this study is to undertake a feasibility trial of a novel co-designed online training program for circus coaches 'CirqAll: preschool circus for premmies', to determine: I. The effectiveness of study recruitment strategies to enrol sufficient appropriate coaches, II. The acceptability of the intervention to participating circus coaches, III. The implementation fidelity of the intervention, and IV. Limited efficacy testing on a key outcome of interest: coaches' implementation behaviour. Despite the demonstrated benefits of PA, and circus training specifically, there is a scarcity of literature on how to tailor these activities to address the participation gap between children born preterm and their term born peers at the preschool age. A recent study by the authors of this protocol was carried out to identify the preferences of key stakeholders regarding recreational physical activities for children born preterm (<28 weeks' gestation). This study identified that parents of preterm children require greater understanding of the preterm experience, which could be addressed by additional training for coaches. Furthermore, parents' heightened vigilance, risk aversion and diverse needs of their children requires tailoring of programs to support initial engagement, and ongoing participation, in recreational physical activities. Using this information, a circus-based intervention was co-designed with key stakeholders to address the needs identified. The co-designed intervention was named 'CirqAll: preschool circus for premmies'. The current study aims to test the feasibility of the CirqAll online training program for circus coaches. If there are few previously published studies or existing data using a specific intervention technique, such as this study which proposes a novel intervention (Bowen et al., 2009), it is important to assess its feasibility. Intervention effectiveness research can be accelerated if careful feasibility studies are conducted prior to larger trials (Orsmond & Cohn, 2015). To prevent wasted resources (participant and researcher time, funding, administration etc.), it is important to evaluate and prioritize interventions with the greatest likelihood of being efficacious. The purpose of feasibility testing is to produce a set of findings that help determine whether an intervention should be recommended for efficacy testing, and identify not only what—if anything—in the research methods or protocols needs modification but also how changes might occur (Bowen et al., 2009; Orsmond & Cohn, 2015). This case series feasibility study will provide insight into whether this novel intervention can work. Furthermore, it will identify what, and how, changes might occur, thereby preventing wasted resources.

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