An evaluation of an intervention designed to help inactive adults become more active with a peer mentoring component: a protocol for a cluster randomised feasibility trial of the Move for Life programme

Abstract

Background There is overwhelming evidence to support the promotion of physical activity in adults in terms of benefits to well-being, physical and mental health. Physical activity guidelines suggest that adults should accumulate at least 150 min of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week. In Ireland, the majority of adults do not achieve these guidelines, with costs to health and economy. ‘Move for Life’ (MFL) employs behavioural change techniques delivered by an instructor and peer mentor, using a train-the-trainer (cascade) model. This study will conduct a feasibility cluster randomised controlled trial of the MFL intervention for modifying physical activity behaviours in inactive adults aged 45 years and older. Methods The trial is set in eight Local Sports Partnership (LSP) hubs that have structured physical activity programmes. The hubs are the units of randomisation (clusters), and individuals are the units of analysis (participants). Eligible participants will contact one of the hubs, with each hub running four physical activity programmes. Each programme requires between 12–15 inactive adults, resulting in 48–60 participants per hub. Allowing for 20% dropout rate, an additional 96 people will be recruited giving a maximum sample of 576. The hub will be randomised: true control, usual programme or MFL intervention. The true control group will be given information about physical activity but will not be included in a programme for the duration of the trial; the intervention will involve the instructor training one (or more) of the participants to be a peer mentor using an educational toolkit; and usual care groups will have physical activity classes delivered as normal. Baseline data will collect physical activity measures and follow-up measurements will be obtained at 3 and 6 months. All participants will be asked to wear a device for measuring activity on the thigh (activPAL) for 7 days before commencing the programme and at 3 and 6 months. The primary objective of the study is to investigate if it is feasible to deliver the intervention and collect data on moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) on all participants, thereby providing valuable information to guide sample size calculation for a future, more definitive trial. Trial registration number ISRCTN11235176 Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s40814-019-0473-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

How to improve recruitment, sustainability and scalability in physical activity programmes for adults aged 50 years and older: A qualitative study of key stakeholder perspectives

“…This formative research study formed the initial phase of the Move for Life study (MFL) [ 26 ]. MFL is a complex, community-based intervention that aims to develop a training programme for professional PA tutors, underpinned by principles of self-efficacy [ 29 ], self-determination theory [ 30 ] and group cohesion [ 31 ] to augment existing physical activity programmes to increase a PA outcome.…”

“…In response to global and national reports of physical activity and ageing, the University of Limerick, in conjunction with health service and community collaborators, established the Move for Life study [ 26 ]. The aim of Move for Life is to increase physical activity levels among adults aged 50 years and older through a behavour change intervention and to test the intervention through a cluster randomised controlled trial.…”

Move for Life an intervention for inactive adults aged 50 years and older: a cluster randomised feasibility trial

“…Data Provision: for those involved in the study at each time point valid data completion rates for accelerometers were ≥ 66%, for psychosocial questionnaires ≥89%, and for physical health assessments ≥90%. Progression criteria: all study progression criteria set in the study protocol ( 33 ) were met.…”

Systematic review of process evaluations of interventions in trials investigating sedentary behaviour in adults

“…Overall 464 unique articles were identified once 14 duplicates were removed. Two reviewers completed title and abstract screening identifiying 29 for full-text screening; of these, 21 met our criteria, 8 are ongoing studies,56–63 8 are completed trials where a process evaluation was conducted but results are not available,64–71 and 5 are completed studies with process evaluation results available 72–76. As with the studies that were synthesised in our review, these included participants from a range of different ages and health conditions for example, insomnia disorder, diabetes, heart disease, hip fracture and obesity and generally focused on increasing physical activity, reducing sedentary behaviour or were lifestyle or weight loss interventions.…”