# Leveraging Youth Sports to Deliver a Physical Activity Intervention to Mothers: Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Efficacy of a Single-Arm Open Pilot Trial

## TL;DR

This study shows that using youth sports events to encourage mothers to be more physically active is feasible and effective, with positive results on activity levels and confidence.

## Contribution

The first study to explore youth sports as a setting for health interventions targeting parents.

## Key findings

- The intervention met recruitment and retention targets, with 26 participants and 85% retention.
- Participants showed significant increases in physical activity and self-efficacy.
- All participants were satisfied with the intervention despite low session attendance.

## Abstract

•This is the first study to utilize youth sports for parent health promotion.•The pilot trial demonstrated feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy.•Significantly increases in physical activity and self-efficacy were observed.

This is the first study to utilize youth sports for parent health promotion.

The pilot trial demonstrated feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy.

Significantly increases in physical activity and self-efficacy were observed.

Mothers have increased risk for insufficient physical activity and face various barriers to engaging in physical activity. Youth sports have been examined as a setting for health-promotion interventions for children but not for parents. The authors conducted a 6-week single-arm open pilot trial of a physical activity intervention delivered to mothers in Rhode Island, U.S. during children’s sports practices.

The authors partnered with a youth football organization to deliver the intervention, which consisted of group physical activity sessions during practice. Feasibility was determined on the basis of whether enrollment (i.e., ≥8 participants per week), retention (i.e., ≥80% of participants through 6 weeks), and assessment (i.e., obtaining usable physical activity data from ≥80% of participants) targets were met. Acceptability was determined on the basis of participant responses to a consumer satisfaction questionnaire (with the intervention deemed satisfactory if ≥80% of participants were satisfied with the intervention) and engagement (i.e., intervention session attendance). Preliminary efficacy was determined on the basis of whether participants experienced increases in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, assessed through 7-day physical activity recall, or physical activity self-efficacy, assessed through the self-efficacy for physical activity measure, at 3 and 6 weeks relative to baseline. The authors descriptively analyzed postintervention feasibility, acceptability, sociodemographic characteristics, and preliminary efficacy outcomes. To explore preliminary efficacy estimates, the authors ran a series of unadjusted paired t-tests to compare baseline moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and self-efficacy with moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and self-efficacy at 3 and 6 weeks.

The authors met recruitment (n=26) and retention (85%) targets but only collected follow-up data from 12 participants (aged 30–62 years). Twelve of 18 planned intervention sessions were offered owing to practice cancellations; participant attendance ranged from 0 to 12 sessions (mean=3.52, SD=4.07). All participants (100%) were satisfied with the intervention, and significant increases in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and physical activity self-efficacy were observed. Specifically, an increase in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity from baseline to 3 weeks of 114.5 minutes was observed (Cohen’s d=0.75), whereas self-efficacy scores increased by 0.98 (Cohen’s d=0.97). Self-efficacy scores were increased by 1.07 (Cohen’s d=0.91) at 6 weeks.

This study demonstrated the feasibility of delivering a physical activity intervention to mothers during youth sports practices, although the authors did not reach the assessment target. Participants were satisfied with the intervention, and increases in physical activity outcomes were observed. However, studies examining strategies to increase engagement and maximize benefits, particularly among insufficiently active mothers, would be beneficial. Nonetheless, this is the first study to demonstrate the potential of youth sports practices as a setting for delivering health promotion interventions to parents.