Hoosier Sport: Refining and Implementing a Sustainable Campus-Community Partnership in Rural Indiana

Hoosier Sport is a sport-based youth development program that uses the power of sport to teach children and adolescents sport and leadership skills while promoting health education. Conducted in rural middle and high schools, the program aims to enhance health and wellness by incorporating unique sports such as volleyball and flag football, along with leadership activities like goal setting and health education on the importance of exercise and a healthy lifestyle. The program runs for eight weeks each semester (Fall and Spring), with sessions twice a week during PE class, where college service-learning students lead the curriculum. Data on physical activity and psychosocial factors are collected to assess changes in health, ensuring confidentiality through strict IRB protocols.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Cardiovascular Diseases; CVD
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Hoosier Sport

Detailed Description

Hoosier Sport is a comprehensive sport-based youth development program designed to enhance the health and wellness of rural children and adolescents. The program leverages the power of sport to teach essential sport skills, leadership qualities, and promote health education. Conducted primarily in physical education (PE) classes, with occasional sessions in health classes, Hoosier Sport spans eight weeks with sessions twice a week. The curriculum focuses on unique sports such as strength training, pickleball, and flag football, and integrates activities that foster leadership (e.g., goal setting) and health education (e.g., the importance of regular exercise and a healthy lifestyle).

A key objective of Hoosier Sport is to explore how participation in sports can satisfy the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. By providing structured yet flexible activities that allow for individual achievement and peer interaction, the program aims to enhance students' intrinsic motivation to engage in physical activity. Additionally, Hoosier Sport addresses the growing concern of screen time and social media usage, which are known to negatively impact physical activity levels. The program integrates discussions and activities that encourage students to reflect on their screen time habits, understand the effects of social media on body image and activity levels, and develop healthier behaviors.

To objectively measure the impact of the program on physical activity (PA), Hoosier Sport utilizes advanced accelerometers (AX3 devices). These devices are worn by students for a week at a time, capturing detailed data on their physical activity patterns. This data allows the research team to accurately assess changes in PA levels throughout the program, providing insights into the effectiveness of the intervention. Alongside physical activity, the program collects data on psychosocial factors, such as self-esteem and social skills, to identify broader health and behavioral outcomes. Exploratory data includes screen time, social media usage, as well as inhibitory control. All collected data is handled anonymously, following strict Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocols to ensure the privacy and protection of participants. Through this multifaceted approach, Hoosier Sport aims not only to improve physical health but also to foster psychological well-being and sustainable healthy behaviors among rural youth.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 80
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Indiana
    • Bloomington, Indiana, United States, 47405
      • Indiana University
    • Lyons, Indiana, United States, 47443
      • White River Valley Middle School

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Must provide parental consent and student assent.
• Enrollment in a physical education class

Exclusion Criteria:

-Presence of medical conditions or physical limitations that prevent safe participation in physical activity, as determined by the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q) or a medical professional.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control group; The control group in the Hoosier Sport study consists of students who are not enrolled in the PE class and therefore do not participate in the Hoosier Sport program. These students continue with their regular school activities without the added sport, leadership, and health education components provided in the intervention.
Experimental: Test group - Hoosier Sport Participants; The intervention group in the Hoosier Sport study consists of students enrolled in the PE class who actively participate in the Hoosier Sport program. These students engage in an 8-week curriculum that includes unique sports activities, leadership exercises, and health education sessions designed to promote physical activity and well-being.	Behavioral: Hoosier Sport; The Hoosier Sport intervention is an 8-week program designed for students in PE classes, focusing on enhancing physical activity and promoting health through sport. The curriculum includes unique sports activities, leadership exercises, and health education, aimed at improving students' physical and psychological well-being. The program also addresses the effects of screen time and social media on physical activity, encouraging healthier behaviors. Throughout the intervention, students wear AX3 accelerometers to track changes in their physical activity levels, helping to assess the program's impact.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM)	How feasible the intervention was from the perspective of the participants. This is measured through questionnaire.	Measured at week 0 and week 9
Acceptability of Intervention Measure (IAM)	How acceptable the intervention is to the participants. This is measured through questionnaire.	Measured at week 0 and week 9
Intervention Appropriateness Measure (AIM)	How appropriate the intervention is to the participants. This is measured through questionnaire.	Measured at week 0 and week 9

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Heart Rate of Participants	heart rate measured via a blood pressure monitor	HR will be taken at week 0 and week 9 before and following the 6-minute walk test.
Blood Pressure of Participants	Blood pressure measured via a blood pressure monitor	BP will be taken at week 0 and week 9 before and following the 6-minute walk test.
Basic Psychological Needs of Participants in Intervention Environment	Basic Psychological Needs and Satisfaction and Frustration scale (BPNSF). This entails feelings/perceptions of autonomy, relatedness, competence, enjoyment, satisfaction, and frustration in the study setting.	Assessed at week 0 and week 9
Physical Literacy of Participants	the Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy second addition (CAPL-2) will be used. A higher score on the CAPL-2 indicates higher physical literacy.	Assessed at week 0 and week 9
Cardiovascular Fitness Levels of Participants	the 6-minute walk test will be used to assess changes in fitness. Greater distance walked in the 6 minute time frame is related to greater levels of cardiovascular fitness.	Assessed at week 0 and week 9
Muscular Endurance Levels of Participants	The plank test will be used to assess changes in fitness. The longer the plank is held, the greater the muscular endurance of the participant.	Assessed at week 0 and week 9
Policy, Systems, and Environmental Factors Influencing Participant Physical Activity and Nutrition Behavior.	a survey will collect data on Policy, Systems and Environmental (PSE) changes using a 5 questions guided by the SNAP-Ed curriculum. Higher scores will indicate better PSE support for physical activity and healthy nutrition opportunities for the participants in their school environment.	Assessed at week 0 and week 9
Daily Total Physical Activity of Participants	Accelerometers (Axivity - AX3 model) will be used to track daily total physical activity	Week 1 (for 7 days), and week 9 (for 7 days)

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Daily screen time	data from participants' phone settings will be used to capture daily screen time. Participants will navigate to their screen time settings, where a comprehensive and objective report of their weekly screen time (including average daily screen time) is available. Here, participants will screenshot this data and airdrop it to a secured IU dropbox location.	Assessed at week 0 and week 9
Daily social media usage	data from participants' phone settings will be used to capture daily screen time. Participants will navigate to their screen time settings, where a comprehensive and objective report of their weekly screen time (including average daily social media usage) is available. Here, participants will screenshot this data and airdrop it to a secured IU dropbox location.	Assessed at week 0 and week 9
Social media addiction	participants will complete the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale to assess social media addiction.	Assessed at week 0 and week 9
Inhibitory control	The Color-Word trial from the Stroop Color and Word Test will be delivered on an iPad/tablet to participants to measure inhibitory control.	Assessed at week 0 and week 9

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Indiana University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 1, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 8, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): May 15, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 17, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 17, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): September 19, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 11, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 8, 2025
• Last Verified: July 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Cardiovascular Diseases
• Other Study ID Numbers: 23985

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
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No