The evaluation of an online training on spinal cord injury physical activity counselling
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN15500262 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN15500262 |
- Submission date
- 15/08/2023
- Registration date
- 17/11/2023
- Last edited
- 21/01/2025
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Other
Plain English Summary
Background and study aims
Health, fitness, or lifestyle professionals can help to promote physical activity among groups of people who might become inactive, like those with spinal cord injury. Counselling is a promising way to promote and increase physical activity. Online training can help professionals to successfully talk to clients with spinal cord injury about being active.
This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an online training on best practices for spinal cord injury physical activity counselling.
Who can participate?
Participants take part in this study if they:
1. Work or volunteer as an exercise/lifestyle counsellor, spinal cord injury (SCI) peer mentor, occupational therapist, therapeutic recreation professional, physiotherapist, psychomotor therapist, social worker, kinesiologist, rehabilitation assistant, SCI caregiver, fitness trainer or coach; AND
2. Work or volunteer in Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, United States of America, Australia, or New Zealand; AND
3. Are planning to provide professional guidance or counselling to one or more clients in the next 12 months on starting and/or maintaining a physically active lifestyle. This can include guidance or support as part of the SCI peer mentorship program; AND
4. Are over the age of 18 years AND
5. Can read and understand English.
What does the study involve?
This study focuses on the effectiveness of an online training for improving knowledge and confidence on using the SCI physical activity counselling best practices. This study involves completing online surveys at three moments and a phone-/online-based interview.
First, participants will be asked to complete an online survey. Completing this survey will take ~20 minutes. The survey will include questions about their counselling experiences, demographic information, and knowledge, skills, confidence, and intentions to using the best practices of SCI physical activity counselling. After completing this initial survey, they will be randomized to the “intervention” or the “control” group. The intervention includes completing the online, self-guided training modules on SCI physical activity counselling. The intervention and control groups will receive the same training modules, but at different times.
Intervention group
Participants in the “intervention” group will be provided with the online training modules on SCI physical activity counselling. They will be asked to complete this training within 1 week. The training modules can be completed online in their own pace and will take about ~2.5 hours. After finishing the training modules, they will be asked to complete a second online survey. This second survey will include the same questions as the first survey. They will also be invited for a third online survey and a phone-/online-based interview about their experiences and satisfaction of the training. Participants will be asked to provide any feedback to improve the training modules. The third survey will take about ~15-20 minutes to complete. The interview will occur over the phone or using Zoom audio-video software. The interview will take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete.
Control group
Participants in the “control” group will be asked to complete the first survey and one week later the second survey. Completing these surveys will take ~15-20 minutes per survey. After the second survey, they will be provided with the same training modules as the intervention group. If they complete the training modules, they will be invited to complete a third online survey. This survey includes same questions as the second survey and questions about your experiences and satisfaction of the training. Participants will also be invited to take part in a phone-/internet-based interview about your experiences and satisfaction of the training. The interview will occur over the phone or using Zoom audio-video software. The interview will take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
By taking part in this study, participants will be provided with online, self-guided training modules on the best practices for SCI physical activity counselling. By completing these training modules, participants may improve their knowledge and confidence related to providing SCI physical activity counselling.
Participation in this study will help us to further improve these SCI physical activity counselling training modules and inform the implementation of the training modules. By taking part in this study, participants can contribute to improving physical activity counselling services for adults with SCI.
There are no known physical, psychological, economic, or social risks associated with this study.
Where is the study run from?
The University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, BC, Canada.
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
January 2021 to June 2023
Who is funding the study?
Craig H. Neilsen Foundation (Canada)
Who is the main contact?
Femke Hoekstra, PhD, femke.hoekstra@ubc.ca
Contact information
Scientific
1238 Discovery Avenue
Kelowna
V1V 1V9
Canada
 ORCID ID |
0000-0002-0068-652X |
|---|---|
| femke.hoekstra@ubc.ca |
Public
1238 Discovery Avenue
Kelowna
V1V 1V9
Canada
| femke.hoekstra@ubc.ca |
Study information
| Study design | Randomized controlled trial using a two-group pre-test post-test design |
|---|---|
| Primary study design | Interventional |
| Secondary study design | Randomised controlled trial |
| Study setting(s) | Other |
| Study type | Other |
| Participant information sheet | 44124 PIS v3 27Feb23.pdf |
| Scientific title | The evaluation of an online training on spinal cord injury physical activity counselling: a randomized controlled trial |
| Study hypothesis | We hypothesized that participants in the intervention group will improve their knowledge on the best practices for spinal cord injury physical activity counselling and will show higher levels of self-efficacy for using these best practices in conversations with clients with spinal cord injury after completing the online training course. |
| Ethics approval(s) |
Approved 09/02/2021, The University of British Columbia Okanagan Research Services Behavioural Research Ethics Board (3333 University Way, Kelowna, V1V 1V7, Canada; +1 250-807-8832; ResearchOffice.UBCO@ubc.ca), ref: H21-00243 |
| Condition | Teaching health/exercise/fitness professionals |
| Intervention | A randomized controlled trial, using a two-group pre-test post-test design, will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the online training course. The intervention includes completing a 2.5 hour self-guided online training course on spinal cord injury (SCI) physical activity counselling. Participants are instructed to complete the training within one week. Participants will be matched by experiences with working with people with SCI and experience in providing physical activity counselling and randomly assigned to an intervention group (i.e. completing the online training modules) or wait-list control. The control group will be invited to complete the training after their post measurement (one week after baseline). After completing the intervention, all participants (intervention and control) will be invited to complete a short survey and interview session about their learning experiences (post-intervention survey and post-intervention interview). This survey and interview data will be used to test usability and participants’ experiences and satisfaction of the training modules. Findings will be used to further improve the modules and inform the implementation. Randomization was done by a research assistant using the Clinical Trial Randomization Tool (https://ctrandomization.cancer.gov/tool/). |
| Intervention type | Behavioural |
| Primary outcome measure | 1. Knowledge of the spinal cord injury physical activity counselling best practices was measured using 15 true/false statements and 3 multiple-choice questions at baseline and follow-up. 2. Participants’ self-efficacy for using the best practices in conversations about physical activity was measured using 10 items in which participants were asked to rate their confidence level on a scale from 0 to 10 (0 = not confident I can do at all; 10 = highly confident I can) at baseline and follow-up. The average self-efficacy score was calculated for each participant and used for further analyses. The items were constructed using Bandura’s guidance for self-efficacy questionnaires. |
| Secondary outcome measures | 1. Usability of the e-learning course was assessed using the 10-item System Usability Scale (SUS) at follow-up (after completing the intervention). The SUS questionnaire provides an overall usability score between 0 and 100, in which a score of 68 or higher is considered as an above average usability. 2. Learning experiences and satisfaction were measured using a selection of items from the learning and satisfaction questionnaire developed by Grieve (2022) in the context of an e-learning course for diabetes prevention coaches. The items were measured at follow-up (after completing the intervention). 3. Feasibility of the course was measured using a modified 10-item questionnaire to assess the affordability, practicability, effectiveness, acceptability, safety, and equity (APEASE) criteria. Items were measured using a 7-point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree and 7=strongly agree). Aggregated scores were calculated for the constructs with multiple items (i.e., affordability, practicability, effectiveness, acceptability). The items were measured at follow-up (after completing the intervention). 4. Capability, opportunity and motivation for using the best practices were measured using 9 items (3 items per construct), measured on a 7-point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree and 7=strongly agree). The items were constructed using components of the COM-B model and inspired by Hoekstra et al.’s questionnaire to access capability, opportunity, motivation for disseminating research to a non-academic audience. The items were measured at follow-up (after completing the intervention). |
| Overall study start date | 01/01/2021 |
| Overall study end date | 01/06/2023 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Health professional, Learner/student |
|---|---|
| Age group | Adult |
| Lower age limit | 18 Years |
| Upper age limit | 100 Years |
| Sex | Both |
| Target number of participants | 40 |
| Total final enrolment | 41 |
| Participant inclusion criteria | 1. Work or volunteer as an exercise/lifestyle counsellor, SCI peer mentor, occupational therapist, therapeutic recreation professional, physiotherapist, psychomotor therapist, social worker, kinesiologist, rehabilitation assistant, SCI caregiver, fitness trainer or coach; 2. Work or volunteer in Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, United States of America, Australia, or New Zealand; 3. Plan to provide professional guidance or counselling to one or more clients in the next 12 months on starting and/or maintaining a physically active lifestyle. This can include guidance or support as part of the SCI peer mentorship program; 4. Are 18 years or older; 5. Can read and understand English. |
| Participant exclusion criteria | Participants cannot take part if they provided any type of feedback on previous versions of the training. |
| Recruitment start date | 07/03/2023 |
| Recruitment end date | 19/05/2023 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- Australia
- Canada
- Ireland
- New Zealand
- United Kingdom
- United States of America
Study participating centre
Kelowna
V1V 1V9
Canada
Sponsor information
University/education
1238 Discovery Avenue
Kelowna
V1V 1V9
Canada
| ResearchOffice.UBCO@ubc.ca | |
| Website | https://www.ok.ubc.ca/ |
"ROR" |
https://ror.org/03rmrcq20 |
Funders
Funder type
Charity
Private sector organisation / Trusts, charities, foundations (both public and private)
- Alternative name(s)
- Neilsen Foundation, Craig H Neilsen Foundation, CHNF
- Location
- United States of America
Results and Publications
| Intention to publish date | 01/04/2024 |
|---|---|
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | Yes |
| IPD sharing plan summary | Stored in publicly available repository, Not expected to be made available |
| Publication and dissemination plan | Planned publication on the development and evaluation of the training in a high-impact peer-reviewed journal. Promotion of the training modules via social media and lab-websites. |
| IPD sharing plan | The survey datasets generated and analyzed during this project will be available in the Open Science Framework (OSF) repository. The datasets generated during the interview sessions are not available due to privacy concerns. Summaries of the findings of the interview data as well as additional study materials are published in supplementary files and on OSF. |
Study outputs
| Output type | Details | Date created | Date added | Peer reviewed? | Patient-facing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other files | 24/02/2023 | 10/11/2023 | No | No | |
| Participant information sheet | version 3 | 27/02/2023 | 10/11/2023 | No | Yes |
| Results article | 06/03/2024 | 21/01/2025 | Yes | No |
Additional files
Editorial Notes
21/01/2025: Publication reference added.
10/11/2023: Trial's existence confirmed by The University of British Columbia Okanagan Research Services Behavioural Research Ethics Board.
