ANZCTR - Registration

Please note that the copy function is not enabled for this field.
If you wish to modify existing outcomes, please copy and paste the current outcome text into the Update field.

Please note the ANZCTR will be unattended from Friday 20 December 2024 for the holidays. The Registry will re-open on Tuesday 7 January 2025. Submissions and updates will not be processed during that time.

Registering a new trial?

To achieve prospective registration, we recommend submitting your trial for registration at the same time as ethics submission.

The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been endorsed by the ANZCTR. Before participating in a study, talk to your health care provider and refer to this information for consumers

Trial registered on ANZCTR

Registration number

ACTRN12609000279224

Ethics application status

Approved

Date submitted

9/03/2009

Date registered

15/05/2009

Date last updated

14/04/2016

Type of registration

Retrospectively registered

Titles & IDs

Public title

Does access to electronic games decrease physical activity in children?

Scientific title

Among children, does access to electronic games decrease physical activity?

Secondary ID [1]

None

Universal Trial Number (UTN)

Trial acronym

Linked study record

Health condition

Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied:

Insufficient physical activity

Condition category

Condition code

Other

Conditions of unknown or disputed aetiology (such as chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis)

Public Health

Health promotion/education

Intervention/exposure

Study type

Interventional

Description of intervention(s) / exposure

3 conditions, each of 8 weeks duration, children proceed directly from one condition to the next - with a balanced order across participants:
1) no electronic games - children have no home access to electronic game consoles and are requested to avoid other electronic game playing
2) traditional input electronic games - children are provided with a PlayStation2 console, game pad input device and a rangae of non violent games, amount of game playing is at family's discretion with guideline of a maximum of 2 hours per day leisure screen time
3) active input electronic games, children are provided with a PlayStation2 console and EyeToy and dancemat input devices and a range of non violent games, amount of game playing is at family's discretion with guideline of a maximum of 2 hours per day leisure screen time

Intervention code [1]

Lifestyle

Comparator / control treatment

no electonic games - electronic games console removed from house and children asked to avoid all electronic game playing

Control group

Active

Outcomes

Primary outcome [1]

physical activity - as assessed by Actical accelerometers worn for one week on both wrist and hip. This provides the amount of time at sedentary, light, moderate and vigorous levels of physical activity

Timepoint [1]

at end of each 8 week condition

Secondary outcome [1]

energy expenditure - as assessed by Doubly Labelled Water (DLW) technique - dose of DLW given and urine samples collected for 11 days

Timepoint [1]

at end of each 8 week condition

Secondary outcome [2]

self-perceived competence - assessed using self report Harter's Self Perception Profile for Children (Harter 1985)

Timepoint [2]

at end of each 8 week condition

Secondary outcome [3]

attitudes to technology - assesse using self-report for 'flow' (Webster et al 1993), 'ease of use' and 'usefulness of technology' (Dean et al 1998)

Timepoint [3]

at end of each 8 week condition

Secondary outcome [4]

motor competence - assessed by the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC) version 2 (Henderson et al 2007)

Timepoint [4]

at end of each 8 week condition

Secondary outcome [5]

adiposity - assessed by body fat estimates from DLW, waist girth and body mass index (BMI) (age and gender adjusted z-scores)

Timepoint [5]

at end of each 8 week condition

Secondary outcome [6]

other leisure activities - assessed by self-report 7 day diary based on previous day physical activity recall (PDPAR) (Anderson et al. 2005)

Timepoint [6]

at end of each 8 week condition

Eligibility

Key inclusion criteria

range of motor competence
range of electronic game experience

Minimum age

10 Years

Maximum age

12 Years

Sex

Both males and females

Can healthy volunteers participate?

Yes

Key exclusion criteria

physical or psychological impairments which would interfere with their ability to participate in trial

Study design

Purpose of the study

Prevention

Allocation to intervention

Randomised controlled trial

Procedure for enrolling a subject and allocating the treatment (allocation concealment procedures)

sealed opaque envelope

Methods used to generate the sequence in which subjects will be randomised (sequence generation)

permuted block randomisation

Masking / blinding

Blinded (masking used)

Who is / are masked / blinded?

Intervention assignment

Crossover

Other design features

Elligible volunteers participate in all three conditions. Order is balanced across participants

Phase

Not Applicable

Type of endpoint/s

Efficacy

Statistical methods / analysis

Recruitment

Recruitment status

Completed

Date of first participant enrolment

Anticipated

29/04/2009

Actual

1/05/2009

Date of last participant enrolment

Anticipated

Actual

7/06/2010

Date of last data collection

Anticipated

Actual

Sample size

Target

72

Accrual to date

Final

56

Recruitment in Australia

Recruitment state(s)

WA

Funding & Sponsors

Funding source category [1]

Government body

Name [1]

National Health and Medical Research Council

Address [1]

GPO Box 1421
Canberra ACT 2601

Country [1]

Australia

Primary sponsor type

University

Name

Curtin University of Technology

Address

GPO Box U1987
Perth 6846

Country

Australia

Secondary sponsor category [1]

None

Name [1]

Address [1]

Country [1]

Other collaborator category [1]

University

Name [1]

The University of Queensland

Address [1]

St Lucia
Queensland
4072

Country [1]

Australia

Ethics approval

Ethics application status

Approved

Ethics committee name [1]

Curtin University Human Research Ethics Committee

Ethics committee address [1]

GPO Box U1987
Perth WA 6845

Ethics committee country [1]

Australia

Date submitted for ethics approval [1]

06/03/2009

Approval date [1]

16/03/2009

Ethics approval number [1]

HR131/2006

Summary

Brief summary

Background
Increasing physical activity (PA) is a major health priority in Australia and internationally due to the associated health burden. It is widely believed that access to electronic games decreases PA in children. Whilst there is considerable research on the impact of TV viewing on PA and obesity, there is little research specific to electronic games. The available evidence suggests electronic games and TV have different associations with PA. Playing electronic games is an important discretionary leisure activity for the majority of Australian children, yet the impact of this on PA has not been tested experimentally. Further, the influence of different game technologies and child characteristics on the impact is not known. Finally, whilst it is assumed playing electronic games displaces more vigorous activities, this has not been demonstrated. 
Aims
This project will assess the impact of electronic game use on PA in children by:
1)	comparing PA and energy expenditure in a home-based RCT where children have either no electronic games or access to traditional electronic games. We hypothesise that PA and energy expenditure will be reduced when children have access to traditional electronic games. 
2)	comparing PA and energy expenditure in a home-based RCT where children have access to either traditional electronic games or new active electronic games. We hypothesise that PA and energy expenditure will be greater with new active electronic games, but still less than no games.
3)	examining responses of different children to explore whether the impact of access to electronic games is greater in some children. We hypothesise a stronger effect on children with poor coordination skills, greater adiposity, poor social confidence, more positive attitudes to technology and less positive attitudes to PA. 
4) examining displacement of sedentary and active leisure activities by electronic games. We hypothesise that all electronic games will displace active non-electronic leisure activities.

Trial website

Trial related presentations / publications

Straker, L., Abbott, R., & Smith, A. (2013). To remove or to replace traditional electronic games? a within subject randomised controlled trial on the impact of removing or replacing home access to electronic games on physical activity and sedentary behaviour in children. BMJ Open, 3, e002629.

Abbott, R., A. Smith, E. Howie, C. Pollock and L. Straker (2014). Effects of home access to active video games on child self-esteem, enjoyment of physical activity and anxiety related to electronic games: results from a randomised controlled trial. Games for Health 3(4): 260-266.

Bufton, A., A. Campbell, E. Howie and L. Straker (2014). A comparison of the upper limb movement kinematics utilized by children playing virtual and real table tennis. Human Movement Science 38: 84-93.

Public notes

Contacts

Principal investigator

Name

Prof Leon Straker

Address

School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science
Curtin University
GPO Box U1987
Perth WA 6845
Australia

Country

Australia

Phone

+61 8 9266 3634

Fax

Email

L.Straker@curtin.edu.au

Contact person for public queries

Name

Professor Leon Straker

Address

School of Physiotherapy
Curtin University of Technology
GPO Box U1987
Perth WA 6845

Country

Australia

Phone

+61 8 9266 3634

Fax

Email

L.Straker@curtin.edu.au

Contact person for scientific queries

Name

Professor Leon Straker

Address

School of Physiotherapy
Curtin University of Technology
GPO Box U1987
Perth WA 6845

Country

Australia

Phone

+61 8 9266 3634

Fax

Email

L.Straker@curtin.edu.au

No information has been provided regarding IPD availability

What supporting documents are/will be available?

No Supporting Document Provided

Results publications and other study-related documents

Documents added manually

No documents have been uploaded by study researchers.

Documents added automatically

Source	Title	Year of Publication	DOI
Embase	Rationale, design and methods for a randomised and controlled trial to investigate whether home access to electronic games decreases children's physical activity.	2009	https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-9-212
Embase	Teaching our children to sit or be active? Sedentary behavior, light activity and moderate/vigorous activity at and away from school.	2012	https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2012.11.680

N.B. These documents automatically identified may not have been verified by the study sponsor.