A Parental Support Intervention for Children's Nature-Based Physical Activity: A Randomized Controlled Trial

A Randomized Controlled Trial of an Intervention to Increase Parental Support for Children's Physical Activity in Outdoor Natural Spaces

This three-arm randomized controlled trial evaluated the effectiveness of an 8-week, WeChat-based parental support intervention designed to increase parents' support for children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces. Participants were randomly assigned to a Self-Determination Theory plus identity intervention group, a Self-Determination Theory intervention group, or an education control group. Across the intervention period, each group received two articles per week via a WeChat Official Account, which were disseminated through condition-specific WeChat groups.

The primary outcome was parental support for children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces. Secondary outcomes included children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces and theory-based psychological variables related to parental support. Assessments were conducted at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and 8 weeks after the intervention had ended. Findings are intended to inform the development of feasible, theory-informed digital interventions to enhance parental support for children's nature-based physical activity.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Health Behavior; Physical Activity Promotion
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Self-Determination Theory plus identity intervention group; Behavioral: Self-Determination Theory intervention group

Detailed Description

This three-arm randomized controlled trial was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of an 8-week, WeChat-based parental support intervention in increasing parents' support for children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a Self-Determination Theory plus identity intervention group, a Self-Determination Theory group, or an education control group.

The intervention was delivered digitally through WeChat. During the 8-week intervention period, participants in each group received two articles per week via a WeChat Official Account, which were disseminated to condition-specific WeChat groups. In total, 16 articles were delivered to each group. The content of the articles differed according to the assigned intervention condition.

The Self-Determination Theory intervention was designed to enhance parents' autonomy, competence, and relatedness in supporting their children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces. The intervention content aimed to help parents understand the value of supporting children's nature-based physical activity, develop confidence in providing practical support, and foster supportive parent-child interactions around outdoor activity participation. The Self-Determination Theory plus identity intervention included the same need-supportive components, with additional content aimed at strengthening parents' support identity. This identity-focused component was designed to help parents view supporting children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces as consistent with their role as supportive parents. The education control group received general educational materials concerning children's health behaviours, without theory-based behaviour-change content targeting parental support.

The primary outcome was parental support for children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces. Secondary outcomes included family physical activity in outdoor natural spaces and theory-based psychological variables related to parental support, including autonomy, competence, relatedness, intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, integrated regulation, and parental support identity. Assessments were conducted at three time points: baseline, immediately after the 8-week intervention, and 8 weeks after the intervention had ended.

Findings from this trial are expected to provide evidence regarding preliminary effectiveness of a theory-informed, digitally delivered intervention for enhancing parental support for children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 90
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• China
  • Guangdong
    • Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
      • School of Physical Education and Sports Science, South China Normal University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Families with at least one child aged 6 to 12 years
• Child has no contraindications for physical activity (as confirmed by parent report)
• Family owns a smartphone and is proficient in using WeChat (self-rated proficiency ≥ 4 on a 5-point scale)
• Family has engaged in natural environment physical activities ≤ 2 times per month in the past 3 months
• Parent or legal guardian is willing to provide informed consent and participate in the 12-week intervention

Exclusion Criteria:

• Child has a medical condition or disability that prevents participation in physical activity
• Family is currently participating in another physical activity intervention study
• Family plans to move out of the study area within the next 6 months
• Inability to read or understand Chinese (as intervention content is delivered in Chinese)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Self-Determination Theory plus identity intervention group; Participants in this group received an 8-week WeChat-based intervention designed to enhance parental support for children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces. The intervention content was grounded in Self-Determination Theory and focused on supporting parents' autonomy, competence, and relatedness in facilitating children's outdoor nature-based physical activity. In addition, this group received identity-focused content aimed at strengthening parents' support identity, that is, helping parents view the provision of support for children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces as consistent with their role as supportive parents. Two articles were delivered each week via a WeChat Official Account and disseminated through the condition-specific WeChat group, resulting in 16 articles in total.	Behavioral: Self-Determination Theory plus identity intervention group; Participants in this group received an 8-week WeChat-based parental support intervention designed to increase parents' support for children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces. The intervention content was grounded in Self-Determination Theory and focused on enhancing parents' autonomy, competence, and relatedness in supporting their children's outdoor nature-based physical activity. In addition, this arm included identity-focused content designed to strengthen parents' support identity, helping parents view the provision of support for children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces as consistent with their role as supportive parents. Two articles were delivered each week via a WeChat Official Account and disseminated through the condition-specific WeChat group, resulting in 16 articles in total.
Experimental: Self-Determination Theory intervention group; Participants in this group received an 8-week WeChat-based intervention grounded in Self-Determination Theory. The intervention focused on enhancing parents' autonomy, competence, and relatedness in supporting children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces. Content was designed to help parents recognise the value of supporting children's outdoor nature-based physical activity, develop confidence in providing practical support, and foster supportive parent-child interactions around outdoor activity participation. Two articles were delivered each week via a WeChat Official Account and disseminated through the condition-specific WeChat group, resulting in 16 articles in total.	Behavioral: Self-Determination Theory intervention group; Participants in this group received an 8-week WeChat-based parental support intervention grounded in Self-Determination Theory. The intervention focused on enhancing parents' autonomy, competence, and relatedness in supporting their children's physical activity in outdoor natural spaces. The content was designed to help parents recognise the value of supporting children's outdoor nature-based physical activity, increase their confidence in providing practical support, and foster supportive parent-child interactions around outdoor activity participation. Two articles were delivered each week via a WeChat Official Account and disseminated through the condition-specific WeChat group, resulting in 16 articles in total. This group served as a theory-based comparator intervention to examine the additional contribution of the identity-focused component.
No Intervention: Education control group; Participants in this group received general educational materials related to children's physical activity and outdoor natural spaces. The materials provided information on the benefits of physical activity and outdoor natural spaces but did not include theory-based behaviour-change content targeting parents' autonomy, competence, relatedness, or support identity. Two articles were delivered each week via a WeChat Official Account and disseminated through the condition-specific WeChat group, resulting in 16 articles in total.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Parental support for children's nature-based physical activity	Parental support for children's nature-based physical activity will be assessed using an adapted 5-item parental support questionnaire. The items were adapted from previous measures of parental support for children's physical activity and parent-child co-participation in physical activity-related behaviours, with wording modified to focus on children's physical activity or sport participation in outdoor natural environments. The questionnaire assesses parental encouragement, co-participation, transportation/logistical support, parental role modelling, and organisation of family outdoor activities. Items are rated on a 5-point frequency scale from 1 = never to 5 = every day. A mean score will be calculated, with higher scores indicating greater support for children's nature-based physical activity.	Baseline, Week 8 (Post-intervention), and Week 16 (Follow-up, 8 weeks post-intervention).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Parental Identity Toward Supporting Children's Nature-Based Physical Activity	Parental identity toward supporting children's nature-based physical activity will be assessed using a 3-item self-report questionnaire adapted from the Exercise Identity Scale. The original scale assesses the extent to which exercise is integrated into an individual's self-concept. In the present study, the items were modified to assess the extent to which parents identify themselves as someone who supports their child's physical activity or sport participation in outdoor natural environments. Items assess whether parents consider themselves supportive of their child's nature-based physical activity, include this support when describing themselves, and believe that others view them as a supportive parent in this domain. Responses are rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. A mean score will be calculated across the three items, with higher scores indicating stronger parental identity toward supporting children's nature-based physical	Baseline, Week 8 (Post-intervention), and Week 16 (Follow-up, 8 weeks post-intervention).
Behavioural Regulation in Supporting Children's Nature-Based Physical Activity	Behavioural regulation in supporting children's nature-based physical activity will be assessed using a 24-item self-report questionnaire adapted from the Behavioural Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-3 (BREQ-3). The original BREQ-3 assesses different forms of motivation for exercise based on Self-Determination Theory. In the present study, items were modified to assess parents' motivation for supporting their child's physical activity or sport participation in outdoor natural environments. The questionnaire assesses six types of motivation: intrinsic regulation, integrated regulation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation, and amotivation. Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale, with higher subscale scores indicating stronger endorsement of the corresponding type of motivation. Mean scores will be calculated separately for each motivation subscale.	Baseline, Week 8 (Post-intervention), and Week 16 (Follow-up, 8 weeks post-intervention).

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: South China Normal University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Ru Zhang, South China Normal University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 6, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 24, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 24, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): June 29, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 29, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 24, 2026
• Last Verified: June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Children; Physical activity; Parents; Natural Environment; Family-Based Intervention
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavior; Motor Activity; Health Behavior
• Other Study ID Numbers: SCNU-SPT-2025-007

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