Effects of Parent-child Co-participation in Physical Activity

Effects of Parent-child Co-participation in Physical Activity on Physical Activity Levels and Motor Skills of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Quasi-experimental Study

Literature reviews and studies of physical activity (PA) interventions suggest that active parental involvement is an important component of supporting PA levels in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Parents have also viewed these interventions as a valuable source of social support and motivation for themselves and their children with ASD; however, parents have reported a lack of PA interventions specifically involving parental involvement to increase PA levels in their children.

To our knowledge, only a handful of PA studies in the literature have examined PA levels or fundamentals movement skills (FMS) in children with ASD and have included parental involvement. Overall, findings from previous studies have shown that PA interventions that include parental involvement successfully improve PA levels and FMS in children with ASD. Given the potential benefits and the increasing interest in family-based interventions, supporting parent-child co-participation in PA may be a possible strategy to promote PA among children and parents. To date, studies on parent-child co-participation in PA have mostly focused on improving PA levels and FMS in children with ASD using web-based interventions such as social media, websites, and online systems. Furthermore, with the exception of two studies, the focus of these studies was on PA levels and not FMS in children with ASD. Furthermore, not all previous studies have created PA groups with and without parental involvement to explore whether parent-child co-participation truly makes a difference. We addressed these limitations in the current study and used a design that included a parent-child PA group, a child PA group, and a control group to examine both PA levels and FMS in children with ASD. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of parent-child co-participation on PA levels and FMS in children with ASD.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: A parent-child co-participation in physical activity

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 40
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Turkey (Türkiye)
  • Bayburt
    • Bayburt, Bayburt, Turkey (Türkiye), 00690
      • Work

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• willingness to participate in the study,
• being the primary guardian of a child with ASD between,
• having an ASD diagnosis confirmed GARS-2-TV,
• being between the ages of four and eleven,
• being able to walk independently.

Exclusion Criteria:

• those who do not attend at least one of the sessions of the training program,
• children with physical health problems (based on self-report and clinical diagnosis) will be excluded from the study.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: parent-child group; This group included parental involvement. Parents and children engaged in PA together three days a week, each session lasting approximately one hour.	Behavioral: A parent-child co-participation in physical activity; Parents in PCG-A engaged in PA with their children three days a week. All parents attended the sessions and engaged in partner warm-ups, partner functional exercises, partner games, and partner cool-downs with their children. Children in CG-B engaged in PA with their peers three days a week without parental involvement, engaging in partner warm-ups, partner functional exercises, partner games, and partner cool-downs. Both intervention groups were compared with a control group. We instructed the control group to maintain their normal routines and activities throughout the intervention and asked them to participate in a pre-test and post-test. A demonstration strategy was used to teach the activities. We provided immediate feedback to encourage and support children with ASD and their parents. We also chatted with the children and parents at the end of each daily physical activity session to evaluate the effectiveness of the session and prepare them for the next session.
Experimental: child group; This group did not include parental involvement. Only children with ASD engaged in PA three days a week, each session lasting approximately 1 hour.	Behavioral: A parent-child co-participation in physical activity; Parents in PCG-A engaged in PA with their children three days a week. All parents attended the sessions and engaged in partner warm-ups, partner functional exercises, partner games, and partner cool-downs with their children. Children in CG-B engaged in PA with their peers three days a week without parental involvement, engaging in partner warm-ups, partner functional exercises, partner games, and partner cool-downs. Both intervention groups were compared with a control group. We instructed the control group to maintain their normal routines and activities throughout the intervention and asked them to participate in a pre-test and post-test. A demonstration strategy was used to teach the activities. We provided immediate feedback to encourage and support children with ASD and their parents. We also chatted with the children and parents at the end of each daily physical activity session to evaluate the effectiveness of the session and prepare them for the next session.
No Intervention: control group; This group continued their normal routines and activities throughout the intervention.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire (LTEQ)	The Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire (LTEQ) was used to assess children's PA levels before and after the intervention. The LTEQ consists of three questions that seek information on the number of times children engage in mild, moderate, and strenuous intensity PA for at least 15 minutes in a typical week. It was applied to the participants in the intervention groups twice, before and after 8 weeks.	8 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The Test of Gross Motor Development-3 (TGMD-3)	The TGMD-3 examines 13 gross motor skills, divided into two subsections: locomotor skills and ball skills. The TGMD-3 has been used in children with ASD aged 4 to 11 years. The TGMD-3 has been reported to have acceptable validity and reliability when measuring motor skills in ASD children. The TGMD-3 contains 3 to 5 criteria for each gross motor skill, which are integral to each other. It was applied to the participants in the intervention groups twice, before and after 8 weeks.	8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Bayburt University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• 1. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 5th ed. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2013.

Helpful Links

• Personal web site

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 1, 2025
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 15, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): October 1, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 13, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 14, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): November 19, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 19, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 14, 2025
• Last Verified: November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: physical activity; autism spectrum disorder; parent; motor skills
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive; Behavior; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Motor Activity; Motor Activity; Movement; Musculoskeletal Physiological Phenomena; Musculoskeletal and Neural Physiological Phenomena; Exercise
• Other Study ID Numbers: BU-SPBF-EY-01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: Since the study has not been published yet, I will fill in this section again when it is published.

Drug and device information, study documents

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