Abstract
BackgroundMany students in Germany do not meet recommended amounts of physical activity. In order to promote physical activity in students, web-based interventions are increasingly implemented. Yet, data on effectiveness of web-based interventions in university students is low. Our study aims at investigating a web-based intervention for students. The intervention is based on the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA), which discriminates between processes of intention formation (motivational processes) and processes of intention implementation (volitional processes). Primary outcome is change in physical activity; secondary outcomes are motivational and volitional variables as proposed by the HAPA as well as quality of life and depressive symptoms.MethodsA two-armed randomized controlled trial (RCT) of parallel design is conducted. Participants are recruited via the internet platform StudiCare (www.studicare.com). After the baseline assessment (t1), participants are randomized to either intervention group (immediate access to web-based intervention) or control group (access only after follow-up assessment). Four weeks later, post-assessment (t2) is performed in both groups followed by a follow-up assessment (t3) 3 months later. Assessments take place online. Main outcome analyses will follow an intention-to-treat principle by including all randomized participants into the analyses. Outcomes will be analysed using a linear mixed model, assuming data are missing at random. The mixed model will include group, time, and the interaction of group and time as fixed effects and participant and university as random effect.DiscussionThis study is a high-quality RCT with three assessment points and intention-to-treat analysis meeting the state-of-the-art of effectiveness studies. Recruitment covers almost 20 universities in three countries, leading to high external validity. The results of this study will be of great relevance for student health campaigns, as they reflect the effectiveness of self-help interventions for young adults with regard to behaviour change as well as motivational and volitional determinants. From a lifespan perspective, it is important to help students find their way into regular physical activity.Trial registrationThe German clinical trials register (DRKS) DRKS00016889. Registered on 28 February 2019
Highlights
Motivation and objectives Action planningBarrier management Action control Final Completion Content- Information about the course of the training - Technical information- Formulating an exercise goal - Reflecting positive and negative consequences of the exercise goals - Intention formation- Concrete planning- Identification of situative barriers - Development of strategies to cope with barriers
This study is the first high quality randomized controlled trial (RCT) to investigate the effect of a web-based physical activity intervention on amount of physical activity among students in Western countries
The implemented webbased intervention is based on the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) model of health behaviour change and targets psychological determinants of physical activity such as self-efficacy or action planning
Summary
Design A two-armed randomized controlled trial (RCT) of parallel design is conducted in order to investigate the research questions. Participants in the intervention condition will immediately receive access data for the web-based intervention, while participants in the control group do not receive the intervention until follow-up assessment (t3). For the control group access to the web-based intervention is activated after completing the follow-up assessment (t3). The universities regularly inform their students via various channels (e.g. e-mail newsletters, press releases, social media posts) about the possibility of participating in online training courses as part of scientific studies. Intervention condition Following randomization, participants in the intervention group receive access to the web-based training ‘InterAKTIV Sport’. Control group participants are told that they will get access to the intervention after the follow-up assessment. Based on previous studies on web-based physical activity interventions in students, mean effect sizes of around d = 0.5 are expected in perprotocol analyses [18, 22, 39]. Adjustment for baseline physical activity scores will further improve the power of the primary comparison
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