A Telephone-Assisted Planning Intervention to Promote Parental Support for Physical Activity Among Children and Youth With Disabilities

Enhanced parental support could increase physical activity (PA) among children and youth with disabilities (CYD). The multi-process action control (M-PAC) model highlights behavioral strategies such as action planning (AP) as critical in facilitating parental support. There is no known research examining AP as a tool to promote parental PA support among parents of CYD. Purpose: Evaluate a telephone-assisted AP intervention for promoting parental PA support. Method: Parents of CYD were randomized to a telephone-assisted AP intervention (n= 28) or no-support control group (n= 29). Results: Compared to the no-support control group, parents who received the telephone-assisted AP intervention were 80% more likely to action plan. A significant time x condition interaction was found for behavioural strategies (i.e., planning, monitoring) (F(1,36)= 4.14, p= .049). Conclusion: Parents in the telephone-assisted AP intervention increased behavioural strategies to support their childs PA, which suggests AP support may enhance AP and parent support for PA.