Skipping rope and pamphlet intervention to promote physical activity among young adolescents in South Africa: study...

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that adolescents engage in at least 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) daily across the week to support healthy growth and development. Despite this guideline, physical inactivity is prevalent among adolescents in South Africa. This is concerning given the increasing burden of overweight and obesity. While nutrition is a critical driver of these conditions, physical activity represents a complementary and scalable strategy to improve overall adolescent health. This study aims to assess the effect of providing a skipping rope and an informational pamphlet to adolescents aged 10-14 years in South Africa on their physical activity intentions and behaviors.

This study is a two-arm parallel-group, individual 1:1, unblinded randomized trial, nested within the Design and Evaluation of Adolescent Health Interventions and Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa (DASH) project. The intervention consists of providing adolescents 10-14 years old in a community setting in South Africa with a skipping rope and a pamphlet with general instructions for rope skipping and messages emphasizing the importance of regular physical activity. About 700 adolescent boys and girls are enrolled as part of this study. The intervention was administered during the first wave of data collection for the DASH study, or baseline, and outcomes will be assessed at both baseline and endline (12 months), during the second wave of data collection for DASH. As a primary outcome, the trial will test whether providing skipping ropes and pamphlets to intervention participants will increase their amount of weekly MVPA over 12 months, compared to participants in the control group, who will receive no materials. Secondary outcomes will be intention to do physical activity, assessed toward the end of the baseline interview, and meeting the WHO recommendations for physical activity, assessed at endline. The physical activity questionnaire was developed from the Physical Activity Questionnaires for Adolescents.

Improving physical activity behaviors and reducing sedentary time among adolescents are critical for fostering healthy lifestyles into adulthood. Assessing the effectiveness of this intervention to enhance physical activity intention and behaviors in South Africa is particularly important given the increasing burden of overweight and obesity.

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06516549. Registered on July 17th 2024. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06516549 .