Effectiveness of a family-, school- and community-based intervention on physical activity and its correlates in Belgian families with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus: the Feel4Diabetes-study

• Main Authors: Nele Huys, Vicky Van Stappen, Samyah Shadid, Marieke De Craemer, Odysseas Androutsos, Katja Wikström, Konstantinos Makrilakis, Luis A. Moreno, Violeta Iotova, Tsvetalina Tankova, Anna Nánási, Yannis Manios, Greet Cardon, on behalf of the Feel4Diabetes-study group
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2020-08-01
• Series: BMC Public Health
• Subjects: Type 2 diabetes mellitus; High-risk families; Primary schoolchildren; Parents; Healthy lifestyle promotion; Intervention effectiveness
• Online Access: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-020-09336-7

Abstract Background The study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the European Feel4Diabetes intervention, promoting a healthy lifestyle, on physical activity and its correlates among families at risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus (based on the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score) in Belgium. Methods The Feel4Diabetes intervention involved three components: family, school and community component, with the family component consisting of 6 counseling sessions for families at risk. Main outcomes were objectively measured physical activity levels and its subjectively measured correlates. The final sample consisted of 454 parents (mean age 39.4 years; 72.0% women) and 444 children (mean age 8.0 years; 50.1% girls). Multilevel repeated measures analyses were performed to assess intervention effectiveness after 1 year. Results In parents, there was no significant intervention effect. In children, there were only significant negative effects for moderate to vigorous physical activity (p = 0.05; ηp 2 = 0.008) and steps (p = 0.03; ηp 2 = 0.006%) on weekdays, with physical activity decreasing (more) in the intervention group. Conclusions The F4D-intervention lacks effectiveness on high-risk families’ physical activity and its correlates in Belgium. This could partially be explained by low attendance rates and a large drop-out. To reach vulnerable populations, future interventions should invest in more appropriate recruitment (e.g. more face-to-face contact) and more bottom-up development of the intervention (i.e. co-creation of the intervention with the target group). Trial registration The Feel4Diabetes-study was prospectively registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02393872 on 20 March 2015.