TEAMPLAY: Parents and children partnering for healthy lifestyles

Many children do not engage in enough physical activity. The aim of the TEAMPLAY project is to adapt principles of successful parenting programmes to help parents encourage their 6-8 year old children to be active. The project will develop a 12-week parenting programme. In part 1 of the grant, will we seek input from parents on the content of the TEAMPLAY intervention and how it can be improved. In part 2, we will ask 12 families to take part in the intervention to assess programme acceptability. In part 3, we will pilot the intervention with 120 (60 intervention) families. Pre, post and post 3-month physical activity and associated psychosocial variables will be obtained from both groups. Data will be analysed to assess the effect of the intervention on children’s physical activity and provide all of the information necessary to conduct a full-scale randomised clinical trial.

This is one of a number of grants made by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) as part of a £5 million boost for heart research in the UK. The charity’s special grants are made several times a year to fund research into the causes, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease, the UK’s biggest killer.