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Place Activation in Urban Peripheries: the 'Comunidades y Espacios Activos" Project (CEA)

Contextually Responsive Implementation of Place-Activation Interventions for Promoting Physical Activity in Low-Income Urban Communities

Status
Recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT06999382
Acronym
CEA
Enrollment
510
Registered
2025-05-31
Start date
2026-02-16
Completion date
2029-06-30
Last updated
2026-05-05

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Uptake of Systematic Review Evidence

Keywords

dissemination and implementation, place-activation, urban health, built environment, physical activity, contextual adaptations

Brief summary

This study will use a Hybrid III Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial to test an 'active dissemination and implementation' intervention in peripheral urban neighborhoods, designed to accelerate the uptake of evidence-based place-based activations that are known to be effective in increasing physical activity among local residents. The study will use a parallel design with eligible neighborhoods randomized to one of two arms: the (1) "Active Dissemination and Implementation" intervention arm (n=15 neighborhoods); and (2) the comparison arm (n=15 neighborhoods). Participants will be "implementation partners" in each of the participating neighborhoods (n=510 total participants, n=17 per neighborhood), comprised of a mix of local government representatives, representatives of non-governmental organizations working in the area, and community leaders. Intervention components to be delivered to implementation partners of neighborhoods randomized to the "Active Dissemination and Implementation" Intervention Arm include participation in 2 workshops, facilitation of coalition building activities, newsletters, targeted messaging, and access to a knowledge broker, and implementation support for 1 year (12 months).

Detailed description

A group-randomized hybrid III trial (Aim 2) testing the effectiveness of a 1-year 'active dissemination and implementation' intervention in increasing the reach, adoption, and implementation fidelity (primary outcomes); and the real-world effectiveness (secondary outcome) of contextually relevant place-activation evidence-based interventions. 30 urban peripheral neighborhoods with recently completed open public space improvements will be selected and randomized within pairs to the intervention vs. comparison condition (15 in each arm). Participants (n=510 total, n=17 per neighborhood) will be community leaders and local-level stakeholders with authority over or engagement with the public open space being assessed. Intervention conditions include capacity-building activities for participants, and intervention implementation support for 1-year, which are hypothesized to improve adoption, reach, and implementation fidelity of place-activation evidence-based interventions.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALActive Dissemination and Implementation

This intervention is designed to accelerate the uptake of evidence-based interventions that help maximize the impact of the addition or renovation of public open spaces on their utilization for active recreation among community members, ultimately effective physical activity levels in communities. The intervention targets implementation partners: local stakeholders/decision makers and community leaders, to increase their awareness of these evidence-based approaches for place-activation, and their willingness to adopt and implement them in their neighborhood settings. Intervention components include capacity building workshops, newsletters, targeted messaging and access to a knowledge broker and implementation support for 1-year.

Delivery of booklet with menu of evidence-based interventions for place-activation; and of pamphlet summarizing importance of healthy lifestyle promotion.

Sponsors

Deborah Salvo
Lead SponsorOTHER
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
CollaboratorNIH
The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
CollaboratorOTHER
Washington University School of Medicine
CollaboratorOTHER
Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica, Mexico
CollaboratorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

for Implementation Partners (main sample for primary Outcomes): * Adults 18 years of age or older * Stakeholders (government or nongovernmental organization representatives in sectors such as health, education, air quality, economic development, urban planning, transportation, parks and recreation, public safety, etc.) or community leaders of peripheral urban neighborhoods of study cities (10 possible cities in Mexico: Colima, Merida, Monterrey, Toluca, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Tijuana, Leon, Cuernavaca, Tapachula).

Exclusion criteria

for Implementation Partners (main sample of primary outcomes): * Not meeting any of the inclusion criteria. Inclusion Criteria for Intercept Survey Participants (for secondary outcomes): * 18 years or older * Located within the confines of the public open space being assessed in a study neighborhood at time of direct observation assessments.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
ReachMeasured at baseline, 6-months (interim effects), 12-months (post-intervention), 24-months (maintenance)Operationalized as awareness of evidence-based interventions, and measured with surveys utilizing 5-Point Likert scale questions (Range: 1-5, where 5 is highest awareness).
Adoption (self-reported by implementation partners)Measured at baseline, 6-months (interim effects), 12-months (post-intervention), 24-months (maintenance)Operationalized as the confirmed adoption of evidence-based interventions (binary variable: yes or no for each evidence-based intervention that could be adopted). Confirmation of adoption is assessed via surveys to implementation partners, who respond to questions about whether the neighborhood they operate at has begun utilizing each of the specific evidence-based interventions or not.
Implementation (self-reported)Measured at baseline, 6-months (interim effects), 12-months (post-intervention), 24-months (maintenance)Operationalized as implementation fidelity, as reported by the implementation partner participants - i.e., to what extent is each of the evidence-based interventions that were adopted in a given neighborhood been implemented with close fidelity to the research-based intervention with proven effectiveness per the scientific literature. Implementation fidelity is measured with self-reported checklists.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Adoption (group-level)Measured at baseline, 6-months (interim effects), 12-months (post-intervention), 24-months (maintenance)Operationalized as confirmed adoption of evidence-based interventions at the neighborhood level. Assessed via policy document audits that my indicate a new program in place in the area or budget allocation for a given program; as well as by direct observation of public open spaces to confirm that a given intervention is taking place; and through intercept surveys to fully identifiable public open space users that report if to their knowledge any evidence-based intervention is ongoing in their neighborhood (analyzed at the group level for the given public open space where data were collected at each time point).
Implementation (group-level)Measured at baseline, 6-months (interim effects), 12-months (post-intervention), 24-months (maintenance)Operationalized as the extent to which evidence-based interventions that have been adopted in a given neighborhood are taking place with close fidelity to the interventions that were developed and tested in research settings as reported by peer-reviewed literature. Measured via direct observation of public open spaces in participating neighborhoods, through direct observation checklists.
Real world effectiveness (physical activity)Measured at baseline, 6-months (interim effects), 12-months (post-intervention), 24-months (maintenance)Measured by direct observation of public open spaces in participating neighborhoods, through the System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC), a valid and reliable method utilizing spatial and momentary sampling assessments, measuring the number of total and physically active users of public open spaces. These data are then used to estimate group-based MET-minutes at a given point in space and time.

Countries

Mexico

Contacts

CONTACTDeborah Salvo, PhD
dsalvo@austin.utexas.edu512-471-8599
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORDeborah Salvo, PhD

The University of Texas at Austin

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: May 6, 2026