• Sarojini Maria Dos Remedios Monteiro, Jonine Jancey, Satvinder S Dhaliwal, Peter A Howat, Sharyn Burns, Andrew P Hills, and Annie S Anderson.
• Western Australian Centre for Health Promotion Research, School of Public Health, Curtin University, PO BOX U1987, Perth, Western Australia 6845, Australia. Electronic address: ginny.monteiro@gmail.com.
• Prev Med. 2014 Feb 1; 59: 12-8.

ObjectiveIncreasing levels of physical activity in mothers have long-term health benefits for the mother and family. The study aimed to evaluate the effect of a six-month, physical activity RCT for mothers of young children.MethodsWomen were recruited via playgroups and randomly assigned to intervention (n=394) or control group (n=322). The intervention group received a six-month multi-strategy programme delivered via playgroups in Perth, Australia. measures were mean minutes per week of moderate (M) and vigorous (V) intensity physical activity (PA), and number of days/week of muscle strength exercises.ResultsThe intervention had a significant effect on mean time for vigorous (p=0.008), moderate (p=0.023) and total physical activity (p=0.001) when compared to the control group. The intervention group increased their vigorous activity by a mean of 24min/week, moderate activity by 23min/week and total physical activity by 72min/week.ConclusionsA relatively minimum home based intervention was able to demonstrate modest but statistically significant improvements in physical activity in a hard to reach group. These changes if maintained over a longer period are likely to improve the health of mothers and have a positive impact on their partners and children. Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12609000735257.Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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