Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting
Date Submitted: Mar 5, 2025
Date Accepted: Jul 6, 2025
Operationalizing behavior change theory to improve physical activity parenting behaviors: descriptive study of content development for a multilevel intervention
ABSTRACT
Background:
Theory-informed strategies for engaging parents in children’s physical activity (PA) promotion show promise, yet behavior-change interventions must begin to be more rigorous in both their application of theory and reporting of its use to continue to advance the field.
Objective:
This descriptive study elucidates how two behavior change theories were used to develop parent communication materials in a 20-week communications campaign, nested within a multilevel (school-home) intervention, to promote children’s PA. The innovation described in this study is derived from the Supporting Physical Literacy at School and Home (SPLASH) feasibility study (2021–2022).
Methods:
A team of seven experts, including graduate students, researchers, faculty and child PA specialists, collaboratively designed the process used to develop the intervention content. With experience in theory-informed interventions and health-related communication campaigns, they held recurring meetings to refine the approach.
Results:
A four-step process was used to develop the theory-informed parent communications materials: (1) Establish a theoretical foundation for communications materials (i.e., Social Cognitive Theory [SCT] and Self Determination Theory [SDT]) and conduct focus groups with priority population; (2) Identify and select PA parenting behaviors aligned with evidence and SCT/SDT to form PA parenting objectives that advance children’s PA; (3) Identify theoretical determinants of parent behavior change and outline methods for applying determinants to address PA parenting objectives; (4) Operationalize theory-informed strategy and draft, review and finalize materials. Parent communications were deployed through printed materials and electronic channels, such as email, text messages, Facebook, and activity videos.
Conclusions:
This descriptive study advances progress in the development of school-based PA promotion efforts seeking to incorporate parent engagement strategies by detailing how behavior-change theories can be operationalized to improve PA parenting behaviors. This methodology is valuable for others seeking to translate theoretical constructs into behavior-change communications messages. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05887583
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.