Game on Philly: Engaging Underserved Middle School Youth in Out-of- School Time Sports and Nutrition Education

Game on Philly is a multi-component out-of-school time intervention delivered by trained sport-based youth development coaches and health navigators using evidenced-based programming. The program evaluation assesses the impact of this minimal-risk intervention to reduce the prevalence of obesity-related health disparities in racial and ethnic minority middle school youth. The program is a virtual sport-based youth development program, supplemented with nutrition education. The program was modified due to Covid-19 and is entirely virtual. Using a quasi-experimental design, six schools are assigned to the intervention arm and six schools are assigned to the comparison arm. Participants in intervention schools receive access to daily, online after school programming, with live sessions with sports providers (via Zoom), weekly team meetings with a health coach (via Zoom), text-messages via the Remind app, and the monthly delivery of Activity Kits directly to their homes for six months. Comparison school participants receive access to the Game on Philly app with workout and sports content and receive one activity kit delivery at the start of the program. Parent-child dyads recruited from each school complete surveys at baseline and at the end of the 6-month program (follow-up). It is hypothesized that youth participating in the intervention will experience significantly greater increases in physical activity at the end of the 6-month intervention compared to youth participating in the comparison arm (primary outcome). Secondary outcomes will examine changes in dietary intake, self-efficacy for physical activity and positive youth development.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Exercise; Diet
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Game on Philly: Engaging Underserved Middle School Youth in Out-of- School Time Sports and Nutrition Education

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 96
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Pennsylvania
    • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19140
      • Temple University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 9 years to 15 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria (Parents) :

• 18 years of age or older
• Parent or legal guardian of the enrolled child
• Can read, write and speak in English

Inclusion Criteria (Child):

• Interested in and able to participate in the program for 6-months
• Can read, write and speak in English
• Are in 6th, 7th or 8th grade at a participating school

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention Arm; Participants in intervention schools received access to daily, online after school programming, including live sessions with sports providers (via Zoom; rotating to provide exposure to multiple sports over the course of the intervention), weekly team meetings with a health coach (via Zoom), text-messages via the Remind app, and monthly delivery of Activity Kits with sports equipment, activity books, fresh produce, and incentives directly to their homes over 6-months.	Behavioral: Game on Philly: Engaging Underserved Middle School Youth in Out-of- School Time Sports and Nutrition Education; Two-group quasi experimental intervention with schools assigned to intervention or comparison.
Experimental: Comparison Arm; Participants in comparison schools received access to the Game on Philly app with workout and sports content that could be used asynchronously, and received one activity kit delivery with sports equipment and a self-guided activity book at the start of the program.	Behavioral: Game on Philly: Engaging Underserved Middle School Youth in Out-of- School Time Sports and Nutrition Education; Two-group quasi experimental intervention with schools assigned to intervention or comparison.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Mean change from baseline in youth self-reported physical activity using the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) measure at 6-months	Youth self-reported physical activity	Change from baseline to end of the 6-month intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Mean change from baseline in youth self-reported self-efficacy for physical activity using the validated Physical Activity Self-efficacy scale at 6-months	Youth self-reported self-efficacy for physical activity	Change from baseline to end of the 6-month intervention
Mean change from baseline in youth self-reported dietary intake assessed using the National Cancer Institute (NCI) fruit and vegetable screener at 6-months	Youth self-reported dietary intake	Change from baseline to end of the 6-month intervention
Mean change from baseline in youth self-confidence assessed using the Positive Youth Development (PYD) Short Form Confidence scale at 6-months	Youth self-reported confidence	Change from baseline to end of the 6-month intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Temple University
• Collaborators: Department of Health and Human Services
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Gina L Tripicchio, PhD, MSEd, Temple University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 6, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 15, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): July 15, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 3, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 14, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): July 23, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 23, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 14, 2021
• Last Verified: July 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 26406

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No