Trial reportPloS one2026
A pilot effectiveness study of a just-in-time micro-randomized controlled trial on the physical activity and sedentary time of young children and their parents: The active family m-health intervention.
Trial report in PloS one, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Digital Interventions Targeting Parents to Improve Early Childhood Movement, Nutrition, and Sleep Behaviors: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions for physical activity: a systematic review of their public health impact and methodological quality.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundParents play a critical role in influencing their young children's physical activity (PA) and sedentary time (ST). Despite this, many young children (aged 3-4y) and their parents are insufficiently active and engage in high amounts of ST. M-health interventions targeting PA and ST have seldom been tested in this population. The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness and acceptability of the Active Family m-health intervention on the PA and ST of young children and their parents.
methodsTwenty-five stay-at-home parent-child dyads from Canada took part in the 2-week just-in-time micro-randomized controlled trial. Parents received seven text message prompts per day, where they were randomized to receive either a micro-intervention (activity suggestion) or control (no suggestion). Parents and children wore ActiGraph accelerometers to measure ST, light [LPA], and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity [MVPA]. Parents also completed a short online acceptability survey. A centred and weighted least square regression was used to analyze the effect of activity suggestions on the 60-min ST, LPA, and MVPA of parents and children following suggestion randomization. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were used to analyze acceptability survey responses.
resultsMicro-interventions were not effective at changing children's or parent's proximal ST (d = 0.01, p = .878; d = -0.09, p = .485, respectively), LPA (d = 0.03, p = .714; d = 0.03, p = .729, respectively), or MVPA (d = -0.05, p = .511; d = 0.10, p = .480, respectively). Interventions became more effective at increasing MVPA over time for parents (b = 0.47, 95%CI = 0.12, 0.83, p = .013). Among children, intervention effectiveness varied by contextual factors (e.g., weather). The intervention was largely acceptable, appropriate, and feasible for parents, though they did offer suggestions for improvement.
conclusionsOverall, micro-interventions did not significantly change parents or young children's proximal movement. Though, this approach showed promise for increasing parent's MVPA over time and for supporting children's activity under specific conditions.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.