JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Being active benefits children and their parents but there is a lack of co-designed resources that support families to engage in physical activity together.

Objective:

This study aimed to identify ways to optimise guidance resources intended to increase family knowledge and engagement in being active together and to evaluate the co-design approach it utilized.

Methods:

Physiotherapist-researchers with experience and expertise in family physical activity drafted two evidence-informed prototypes. One prototype informed families about the holistic benefits of being active together whilst the other prototype helped families to plan their episode of physical activity. Rural families, with neuro- or developmentally diverse children, were recruited as co-designers to ensure a wide range of considerations. Family co-designers took part in two to three workshops. They trialed the prototypes, telling researchers what worked well and how to improve them. Child and adult advisory groups oversaw the co-design approach.

Results:

Sixty-two changes were made to the prototypes in response to feedback from families and researcher observations. Key changes recommended by children, parents and researchers to optimize the resources included: changing the ordering of the planning resource to reflect the way that most families used it, adding a hard words section to support readability, support to normalize that no-one wins all the time, additional examples to cover each section of the resources, and support for negotiation amongst families to ensure that the planned PA was mutually desirable. All families used the resources to successfully complete, or adapt, their planned session of physical activity together. Overall, co-designers and advisory group members perceived the co-design approach to be appropriate, responsive and effective.

Conclusions:

Co-design in the current study supported optimization of resources that facilitated valued discussion and participation in physical activity together among rural families. Future research is needed to evaluate how these co-designed resources may impact family physical activity behaviour and identity.