A Home Exercise Program (DVD) for Women with Infants and Young Children

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Becoming a mother is a significant transition in a woman's life. This transition can precipitate major changes in health behaviors, like physical activity. Once a woman has a child she is much less likely to participate in regular, moderate to vigorous physical activity compared to women without children. Thus, new mothers are at risk for future weight gain and chronic diseases associated with physical inactivity. Innovative health technology is needed to promote physical activity in this at-risk population of young adult women. This Phase II project will develop and test an interactive web-enabled multimedia program, titled Choose to Move. Features include the ability to select one to five 10-minute videos demonstrating yoga, aerobics, Pilates, and strengthening exercises for mothers with infants 2 to 8 months of age. Women will select and sequence together videos personalized to their fitness level, preference for exercise type, choice to actively exercise with her baby or alone, and a choice of on-screen activities for toddlers. Exercises with a baby will be tailored to the infant's weight and include interactions that promote cognitive development and mother-child bonding. Choose to Move is designed for viewing on a television taking advantage of new technologies that allow viewers to watch streaming video (including movies) from the internet on a television. The TV can also be connected to the internet via a web-enabled console and controller such as Nintendo's Wii(R). The primary goal of the Choose to Move web-enabled Program is to increase home-based moderate to vigorous physical activity in new mothers. Phase II activities will include: 1) programming the Choose to Move multimedia web enabled program, a recruitment website and online survey; 2) producing 10-minute video segments showing women exercising with or without an infant; 3) conducting iterative usability testing of the features and content of the Program; and, 4) conducting a randomized trial of the efficacy of the Program with 572 new mothers recruited from across the U.S. New mothers will be randomly assigned to receive either the Choose to Move Program or a standard exercise DVD designed for new mothers. The primary outcome will be minutes per week of leisure-time moderate to vigorous physical activity measured at baseline, 4 and 12 .Process evaluation will also determine extent to which the technology is utilized (frequency of use and time per access) over 12 weeks in both conditions. We will investigate whether key demographic (i.e., weight of infant, number of children) physiological (i.e., body mass index), and lifestyle factors (sleep quality, fatigue) act as mediators or moderators of any change in physical activity. The Choose to Move Program will allow Moms to tailor a range of exercise options to meet their needs and those of their children. As their infant grows and progresses through different cognitive and developmental stages the Program can grow with them, allowing the Mom to change her preferences unlike any exercise DVDs currently available on the market. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Women with infants are much less physically active than women with no children, thus, this Phase II STTR project will develop and test an interactive web program optimized for use on Internet connected televisions, titled Choose to Move that is designed specifically for women with infants 2-8 months old. Moms will select from a menu of 10-minute exercise videos demonstrating yoga, aerobics, Pilates, and strengthening exercises; and then, they can select and sequence together exercise videos personalized to their fitness level, form of exercise, choice to actively exercise with her baby or alone, and a choice of on-screen animated activities for toddlers. The primary health goal of the Choose to Move Program is to increase home-based moderate to vigorous physical activity in new mothers, and to change their exercise preferences over time as their baby grows; this it is unlike any exercise media currently available on the market.