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Randomized Controlled Trial of an Improved Version of MobileMums, an Intervention for Increasing Physical Activity in Women with Young Children

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Background

Women with young children (<5 years) are an important group for physical activity intervention.

Purpose

The objective of the study was to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of MobileMums—a physical activity intervention for women with young children.

Methods

Women were randomized to MobileMums (n = 133) or a control group (n = 130). MobileMums was delivered primarily via individually tailored text messages. Moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was measured by self-report and an accelerometer at baseline, end of the intervention (13 weeks), and 6 months later (9 months). Changes were analyzed using repeated-measures models.

Results

MobileMums was feasible to deliver and acceptable to women. Self-reported MVPA duration (minutes/week) and frequency (days/week) increased significantly post-intervention (13-week intervention effect 48.5 min/week, 95 % credible interval (CI) [13.4, 82.9] and 1.6 days/week, 95 % CI [0.6, 2.6]). Intervention effects were not maintained 6 months later. No effects were observed in accelerometer-derived MVPA.

Conclusions

MobileMums increased women’s self-reported MVPA immediately post-intervention. Future investigations need to target sustained physical activity improvements (ACTRN12611000481976).

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the women of Caboolture who participated in the study. We would also like to thank project staff for their integrity and commitment, Jasmine O’Brien, Sarah Mair, Jacqueline Watts, Joy Nicols, and Kylie Heenan. Thanks also to the Queensland Centre for Mothers & Babies at The University of Queensland who assisted us by inviting women on their research database to participate in this trial. This study was supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council project grant no 614,244. The last author was supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council Career Development Award no 553,000. Computational resources and services used in this work were provided by the High Performance Computer and Research Support Unit, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.

Author Statement of Conflict of Interest and Adherence to Ethical Standards

Authors Fjeldsoe, Miller, Barnett, Graves and Marshall declare that they have no conflict of interest. All procedures, including the informed consent process, were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Population Health, Cancer Prevention Research Centre, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Brianna S. Fjeldsoe PhD

  2. Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, School of Public Health and Social Work, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

    Yvette D. Miller PhD, Nicholas Graves PhD, Adrian G. Barnett PhD & Alison L. Marshall PhD

  3. School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Yvette D. Miller PhD

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  1. Brianna S. Fjeldsoe PhD
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  5. Alison L. Marshall PhD
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Correspondence to Alison L. Marshall PhD.

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Fjeldsoe, B.S., Miller, Y.D., Graves, N. et al. Randomized Controlled Trial of an Improved Version of MobileMums, an Intervention for Increasing Physical Activity in Women with Young Children. ann. behav. med. 49, 487–499 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-014-9675-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-014-9675-y

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