A Transformational Teaching Intervention: Adolescents in Motion (AIM) Trial (AIM)

September 15, 2014 updated by: University of British Columbia
The purpose of this Randomized Controlled Tria (RCT) is to evaluate the effects of a transformational teaching intervention in comparison to 'standard educational practices' within school-based physical education classes (within three Canadian provinces; British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia) across 5 months.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Physical inactivity among adolescents has been linked to a vast array of physical and mental health problems. One potential vehicle to foster adolescent involvement in physical activity relates to physical education in schools.

A potentially important framework, that has recently been applied to educational and health promotion contexts, relates to transformational leadership theory. Transformational leadership involves the demonstration of behaviors that empower and inspire others to achieve higher levels of functioning, and has been consistently found to be associated with greater motivation, self-efficacy, well-being, and performance in those being led. From an applied perspective, a growing body of evidence also suggests that transformational behaviors can be developed in leaders through short-term interventions (e.g., one-day workshops), which subsequently result in positive changes in followers' attitudinal and behavioral responses.

With this in mind, the overall goal of this Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) is to test the efficacy of a theory-driven evidence-based transformational teaching intervention for use within school-based physical activity settings. In this 5-month trial, physical education teachers from 36 schools from three provinces across Canada (British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia) will be provided with (through a one day work shop and follow-up support program) the resources they need to implement transformational teaching behaviours in their day-to-day teaching practices. The primary hypothesis for this RCT is that students taught by teachers in the intervention condition will display greater adoption and maintenance of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) behaviors outside of school hours in comparison to control students, after controlling for baseline levels. A process evaluation will also be conducted with teachers to evaluate the procedures embedded within the intervention.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

2160

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Canada
    • British Columbia
      • Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6T1Z1
        • University of British Columbia
    • Nova Scotia
      • Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, B4P 2R6
        • Acadia University
    • Ontario
      • Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6
        • Queen's University
      • North Bay, Ontario, Canada, P1B8L7
        • Nipissing University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

13 years to 15 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Grade 9 (aged 14 (+/- 1 year))

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Do not have basic working knowledge of English

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Transformational teaching condition
Teachers allocated to this condition will receive the transformational teaching intervention.
Behavioral: Transformational Teaching
Physical education teachers randomly assigned to the experimental condition will (through a 1-day workshop format) be provided with the resources to implement transformational approaches in their day-to-day work. In addition, these teachers will be involved in a follow-up support program following the workshop to help them to implement transformational teaching strategies that were developed in the workshop.
Active Comparator: Standard practice control condition
Teachers allocated to this condition will not receive the transformational teaching intervention. Instead they will take part in a parallel workshop offered by their respective school board (unrelated to transformational leadership training).
Behavioral: Standard Educational Practices
Physical education teachers randomly assigned to the control condition will take part in a professional development day workshop provided by their respective School Board. This will involve the same amount of contact time, and will take place on the same day as the transformational teaching workshop. It should be noted that the focus of those alternative workshops is unrelated to transformational leadership training.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA)
Time Frame: 5 months
In addition to collecting self-report physical activity data through the use of questionnaires, a subsample of students (360 out of the overall sample of 2160) will be randomly selected and invited to wear a small physical activity monitor (accelerometer) on three occasions (January, March and May 2012) over the 5-month trial (for 7-days at each data point). The unit of measure that will be used to assess this outcome variable is MINUTES of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity both during leisure time hours (i.e., outside of school) and within school hours.
5 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Physical activity-related cognitions and attitudes
Time Frame: 5 months
All adolescents will complete validated measures of self-efficacy (within class self-efficacy and environmental change self-efficacy), intrinsic motivation and attitudes surrounding physical education and leisure-time physical activity at each of the three time points (January, March and May 2012). Units of measure will be participants' responses on these validated scales.
5 months
Teaching efficacy
Time Frame: 5 months
The physical education teachers (approximately n=72) involved in the trial will complete measures of teaching efficacy at each of the three time points (January, March and May 2012). The unit of measure will be teachers' responses on this validated scale.
5 months
Transformational teaching behaviors
Time Frame: 5 months
Adolescents' perceptions of their physical education teacher's transformational behaviors will be measured at each of the three time points (January, March and May 2012). The unit of measure will be adolescents' responses on this validated scale.
5 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of British Columbia

Collaborators

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

January 1, 2012

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2013

Study Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2013

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 7, 2011

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 9, 2011

First Posted (Estimate)

June 10, 2011

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

September 17, 2014

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 15, 2014

Last Verified

September 1, 2014

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • H08-02513

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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