Design and implementation of a physical activity intervention to enhance children's use of the built environment (the CUBE study)

Abstract

Background: Adequate physical activity promotes physical and mental health and decreases obesity risk. However, most adolescents do not attain recommended physical activity levels and effective interventions are lacking. Physical activity trials rarely incorporate built environment use patterns.

Purpose: This paper describes the design and rationale of the Children's Use of the Built Environment (CUBE) Study, an office-based intervention designed to teach youth how to use their surrounding built environment to increase physical activity.

Methods: CUBE is a 6-month intervention trial among 60 overweight and obese 10-16 year old adolescents from a community health center in Massachusetts. The study began in the winter of 2013. Patients are sequentially assigned to either the intervention or control group. Baseline physical activity by accelerometry and location by GPS, along with measured height, weight, and blood pressure are collected. Control subjects receive standard of care lifestyle counseling. Intervention subjects receive tailored recommendations on how to increase their physical activity based on their accelerometer and GPS data. Data collections are repeated at end-of-treatment, and again 3 months later.

Conclusion: The findings from this study should help guide future efforts to design interventions aimed at increasing adolescent physical activity as well as to inform design professionals and government officials charged with creating outdoor spaces where adolescents spend time.

Keywords: Adolescents; Built environment; Intervention; Obesity; Physical activity.