Psychosocial physical activity outcomes of a father-focused health programme for Mexican-heritage families

Mexican-heritage families on the Texas-Mexico border report less physical activity (PA) and are at greater risk for chronic disease than the US population. According to social cognitive and family systems theories, family-centred PA programmes engaging Mexican-heritage fathers can improve psychosocial outcomes related to PA. The study assesses changes in child's PA self-efficacy, skill competency, father's social support for child PA, and parenting strategies after a culturally tailored, father-focused, and family-centred lifestyle programme (¡Haz Espacio para Papi!; Make Room for Daddy). Using a stepped-wedge cluster randomized design, participating families (n = 42), consisting of children (mean age: 9.8 ± 1.0) and fathers (mean age: 38.9 ± 7.9]), were from four randomized geographic clusters. Child's PA self-efficacy, skill competency, father's social support for child PA, and parenting strategies were evaluated pre- and post-programme. Linear mixed models assessed programme effects on child and father psychosocial outcomes. The programme was associated with a significant increase in father's social support for child PA (β = 0.08; SE = 0.03; P = .01). However, the programme had no statistically significant associations with child self-efficacy (P = .66), skill competency (P = .96), or parenting strategies (P = .08). This culturally tailored programme resulted in significantly increased fathers' social support for child PA. Programmatic components related to child psychosocial outcomes may need to be strengthened to adequately demonstrate effectiveness.