A mobile technology intervention to reduce sedentary behaviour in 2- to 4-year-old children (Mini Movers): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Sedentary behaviour (e.g. television viewing, sitting time) tracks over time and is associated with adverse health and developmental outcomes across the lifespan. Young children (5 years or younger) spend up to 12 h/day sedentary, of which around 2 h is spent in screen time (e.g. watching television). Interventions to reduce sedentary behaviour in early childhood report mixed results and many have limited potential for scalability. Mobile phones offer a wide-reaching, low-cost avenue for the delivery of health behaviour programmes to parents but their potential to reduce young children’s sedentary behaviour has not been widely tested. This study aims to test the feasibility and efficacy of a parent-focused, predominantly mobile telephone-delivered intervention to support parents to minimise the amount of time their child spends using screens and in overall sitting time. METHODS/DESIGN: Mini Movers is a pilot randomised controlled trial recruiting 100 parents and children. Inclusion criteria include having a child aged between 2 and 4 years, being able to speak, read and write English, and smartphone ownership. Participants will be randomised to the intervention or a wait-list control group at a 1:1 ratio. Intervention group parents will receive printed materials including a content booklet and goal-checking magnet and will participate in a one-on-one discussion with the interventionist to plan two goals to reduce their child’s sedentary behaviour. Subsequently, the intervention will be delivered over 6 weeks via personalised and interactive text messages promoting positive health behaviours (strategies for decreasing screen time and overall sitting time), goal setting and self-monitoring. Outcomes to be assessed include intervention feasibility and children’s screen time and objectively-assessed sitting time. DISCUSSION: Few studies have used mobile phone technology to deliver health behaviour programmes to parents of young children. Findings will inform the development of larger-scale interventions to reduce sedentary behaviour during early childhood. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials registry, identifier: ACTRN12616000628448. Prospectively registered on 16 May 2016. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13063-017-1841-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.