Exercise behaviours in children and young people with cystic fibrosis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Identifying predictors for maintenance of exercise participation in children and young people with cystic fibrosis
IRAS ID
246187
Contact name
Helen Douglas
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 8 months, 2 days
Research summary
Physical activity and exercise are low-cost, low-risk and high-benefit, and there is a wealth of evidence highlighting the particular value of physical activity and exercise for people with cystic fibrosis (CF). Therefore exercise is now considered a key component in the treatment of CF, however the provision of exercise support by UK CF centres is limited.
This research will develop a better understanding of the predictors of maintained exercise behaviours in children and young people (CYP) with CF (Part A), and then build an exercise behaviour screening tool which will be useful in clinical practice to identify the level of exercise support required by individual CYP with CF (Part B).
Part A involves up to 75 CYP with CF completing questionnaires measuring self-efficacy for physical activity and self-reported physical activity levels. The results of these will be analysed in conjunction with exercise capacity and activity tracker data collected as part of Project Fizzyo (NREC 18/LO/1038, IRAS 228625). This unique insight into longer-term activity patterns will generate a clearer profile of exercise and activity attitude and behaviour clusters amongst CYP with CF. Identifying the characteristics of these clusters could indicate predictors of exercise maintenance behaviours for CYP with CF in the future.
Developing the screening tool (Part B) involves initial item generation with the results of Part A and a literature review, and consultation with relevant experts. Cognitive interviews will be conducted with 8-12 CYP with CF ('talking aloud' their answers to the draft measure) (Part B i). The tool will then be administered to a larger development sample of CYP with CF and standardised statistical analyses will be conducted on the data to assess validity (Part B ii).
This tool may help guide the provision of appropriately targeted individualised exercise plans for CYP with CF and allocation of limited CF centre resources.
REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/NE/0324
Date of REC Opinion
16 Oct 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion