JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Preschoolers’ lifestyles have become physically inactive and sedentary, their eating habits unhealthy, and their sleep routines increasingly disturbed. Parent-based interventions have shown promising to improve physical activity (PA), dietary behaviors (DB), and reducing sleep problems of preschoolers. However, because of the recognized obstacles of face-to-face approach (such as travel costs and time commitment), easy access and lower costs make electronic health (eHealth) interventions appealing. Previous studies that examined the effectiveness of parent-based eHealth on preschooler’s PA, DB, and sleep have either emphasized on one variable or failed to balance the dosage of PA, DB, and sleep modules or consider the intervention sequence during the intervention period and there is an acknowledged gap in parent-based eHealth interventions which target preschoolers raised in Chinese cultural contexts.

Objective:

To investigate the effectiveness of parent-based eHealth intervention on Chinese preschoolers’ PA, DB, and sleep problems.

Methods:

This two-arm parallel randomized controlled trial comprises a 12-week intervention with a 12-week follow-up. 206 parent-child dyads will be randomized to either eHealth intervention group or control group. Participants allocated to the eHealth intervention will receive 12 interactive modules on PA, DB, and sleep, with each module delivered on a weekly basis to reduce the sequence effect on variable outcomes. The intervention is grounded upon Social Cognitive Theory and will be delivered through social media, where parents can obtain valid and updated educational information, social rapport, and interact with other group members and facilitators. Participants in the control group will receive weekly brochures on PA, DB, and sleep recommendations from the kindergarten teachers, but they will not receive any interactive components. Data will be collected at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. The primary outcome will be the preschooler’s physical activity. The secondary outcomes will be the preschooler’s dietary behaviors, preschooler’s sleep duration, and preschooler’s sleep problems, parent’s PA, parenting style, and parental feeding style.

Results:

The baseline and posttest data of this study were conducted from October 2023 to March 2024, and the follow-up data will be completed by August 2024. The project team has completed data collection on 238 preschoolers at the baseline and posttest. The results are expected to be published in 2025.

Conclusions:

The parent-based eHealth intervention has potential to overcome the aforementioned barriers of face-to-face interventions, which will offer a novel approach for promoting healthy lifestyle of preschoolers. If found to be efficacious, the prevalence of unhealthy lifestyles among preschoolers may be alleviated at a low cost, which not only has a positive influence on the health of the individual and the well-being of the family but also reduces the financial pressure on society to treat diseases caused by poor lifestyle habits. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrial.gov Protocol Registration and Results System (PRS): NCT06025019