Sports Stars JIA- is a physiotherapist-led sports group feasible for children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis?

Short name: Sports Stars Participants will receive eight, weekly, 1-hour face-to-face group sessions (8h) in groups of 8 children. Intervention will target physical, social, cognitive and psychological components of Physical Literacy needed for participation in life-long physical activity. Every two weeks, children will be introduced to one of the four most popular Australian team-sports (soccer, netball, t-ball, cricket). Each session includes: (1) Physical coaching targeting the locomotor (e.g. running, weaving) and object control skills (e.g. catching, kicking) needed to participate in sport. (2) Cognitive coaching to introduce children to the rules of sport and the layout of a training session, to educate them on the importance and safety of physical activity for pain management, health and overall wellbeing, and to develop knowledge on how to participate in physical activity in an enjoyable way across their lifetime. (3) Social coaching to facilitate enjoyable teamwork experiences with peers in recreational and competitive environments. (4) Psychological coaching to enhance confidence and self-efficacy in pain management through participation in physical activity and reduce feelings of anxiety and/or reluctance to participate in physical activity due to symptoms of JIA. Sessions will be conducted in community parks by trained physiotherapists. Conducting sports-specific activities in a community environment will facilitate children’s transition from hospital-based medical intervention, into community sports participation. Children and parents will also receive 3x 2hr psycho-education sessions with a psychologist (W1, W4, W8) to address their understanding of safety and effectiveness of exercise in pain management for people with JIA, and to address anxiety or reluctance relating to participating in Sports Stars, transitioning to community sport, or self-efficacy for transition. Intervention therapists will be qualified physiotherapists who receive Sports Stars training prior to providing intervention. A Sports Stars protocol will be provided that includes weekly exercise and progression programs with instructions and video resources to aid exercise selection for each child’s age, goals and skills. Therapists will consult with a Sports Stars expert (GC) to discuss program content and structure prior/during group provision. Each session, the therapist will record exercise type, level of difficulty and observed engagement for each child. At week 3 and 6, a Sports Stars expert not involved in assessment will perform a fidelity review and provide guidance on session delivery and recording if needed. Independent content analysis of fidelity review will determine compliance with the provided protocol (Feasibility element #3- Practical and able to be implemented (successfully delivered)).