- Title
- Engaging fathers to increase physical activity in girls: the "Dads And Daughters Exercising and Empowered" (DADEE) randomized controlled trial
- Creator
- Morgan, Philip J.; Young, Myles D.; Barnes, Alyce T.; Eather, Narelle; Pollock, Emma R.; Lubans, David R.
- Relation
- Annals of Behavioral Medicine Vol. 53, Issue 1, p. 39-52
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/abm/kay015
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2019
- Description
- Background: Existing strategies to increase girls' physical activity levels have seen limited success. Fathers may influence their children's physical activity, but often spend more time with their sons and rarely participate in family-based programs. Purpose: To test a novel program designed to increase the physical activity levels of fathers and their daughters. Methods: In a two-arm RCT, 115 fathers (29-53 years) and 153 daughters (4-12 years) were randomized to (i) the "Dads And Daughters Exercising and Empowered" (DADEE) program, or (ii) a wait-list control. The 8-week program included weekly educational and practical sessions plus home tasks. Assessments were at baseline, 2 months (postintervention), and 9 months. The primary outcomes were father-daughter physical activity levels (pedometry). Secondary outcomes included screen-time, daughters' fundamental movement skill proficiency (FMS: perceived and objective), and fathers' physical activity parenting practices. Results: Primary outcome data were obtained from 88% of daughters and 90% of fathers at 9 months. Intention-to-treat analyses revealed favorable group-by-time effects for physical activity in daughters (p = .02, d = 0.4) and fathers (p < .001, d = 0.7) at postintervention, which were maintained at 9 months. At postintervention and follow-up, significant effects (p < .05) were also identified for daughters' FMS competence (objective: d = 1.1-1.2; perceived: d = 0.4-0.6), a range of fathers' physical activity parenting practices (d = 0.3-0.8), and screen-time for daughters (d = 0.5-0.8) and fathers (d = 0.4-0.6, postintervention only). Program satisfaction and attendance were very high. Conclusions: This study provided the first experimental evidence that efforts to increase physical activity behavior in preadolescent girls would benefit from a meaningful engagement of fathers.
- Subject
- exercise; girls; men; fundamental movement skills; parenting; gender equity
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1398770
- Identifier
- uon:34487
- Identifier
- ISSN:1532-4796
- Rights
- This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine following peer review. The version of the above record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/abm/kay015.
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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