Feasibility of a mobile health intervention to motivate adolescent fitness and high-intensity exercise adherence (Motivating Adolescent Fitness (MOTAFIT)): protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Koep, JL ORCID: 0000-0003-4137-6840, Sansum, KM, Low, J ORCID: 0000-0002-1964-6237, Smith, KJ, Cocks, M ORCID: 0000-0003-1671-8714 and McManus, AM (2026) Feasibility of a mobile health intervention to motivate adolescent fitness and high-intensity exercise adherence (Motivating Adolescent Fitness (MOTAFIT)): protocol for a randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open, 16 (2). pp. 1-12. ISSN 2044-6055

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Abstract

Introduction Most adolescents fail to achieve recommended levels of vigorous-intensity physical activity, despite the established benefits for cardiorespiratory fitness and vascular health. Supervised interventions can be effective, but are resource-intensive and lack scalability. Mobile health (mHealth) technologies may provide a cost-effective and accessible approach to support structured, individualised training for adolescents. The Motivating Adolescent Fitness (MOTAFIT) trial will assess the feasibility and acceptability of an mHealth-supported exercise intervention for adolescents to inform the design of a definitive randomised controlled trial (RCT). Methods and analysis MOTAFIT is a three-arm feasibility RCT targeting 120 adolescents aged 13–16 years from the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. Participants will be randomised (1:1:1) to: (1) MOTAFIT, (2) active control or (3) control group. The 12-week intervention targets ≥40min/week of vigorous-intensity exercise (≥80% HRmax), co-designed with an exercise specialist and supported by mHealth technology. Primary outcomes for feasibility, including recruitment, retention, adherence, fidelity and acceptability, will be assessed as part of a process evaluation. Secondary measures (cardiorespiratory fitness, vascular health and blood pressure) will provide preliminary estimates to guide future sample size calculations. Ethics and dissemination The study has received approval from the University of British Columbia Clinical Research Ethics Board (H22-03183) and the University of Victoria Human Research Ethics Board. Parental consent and adolescent assent will be obtained prior to participation. Findings will be disseminated via peer-reviewed publications, conferences and community engagement. Trial registration number NCT06409793.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Digital Technology; Exercise; Adolescents; Humans; Exercise; Feasibility Studies; Patient Compliance; Motivation; Telemedicine; Adolescent; British Columbia; Female; Male; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Cardiorespiratory Fitness; Adolescents; Digital Technology; Exercise; Humans; Adolescent; Feasibility Studies; Motivation; Exercise; British Columbia; Telemedicine; Female; Male; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Patient Compliance; Cardiorespiratory Fitness; 32 Biomedical and Clinical Sciences; 4203 Health Services and Systems; 4206 Public Health; 42 Health Sciences; 3202 Clinical Sciences; Telehealth; Physical Activity; Cardiovascular; Clinical Trials and Supportive Activities; Clinical Research; Networking and Information Technology R&D (NITRD); Prevention; Pediatric Research Initiative; Behavioral and Social Science; 6.7 Physical; Stroke; Cardiovascular; 3 Good Health and Well Being; Humans; Adolescent; Feasibility Studies; Motivation; Exercise; British Columbia; Telemedicine; Female; Male; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Patient Compliance; Cardiorespiratory Fitness; 1103 Clinical Sciences; 1117 Public Health and Health Services; 1199 Other Medical and Health Sciences; 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences; 42 Health sciences; 52 Psychology
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC1200 Sports Medicine
Divisions:	Sport and Exercise Sciences
Publisher:	BMJ
Date of acceptance:	7 January 2026
Date of first compliant Open Access:	4 March 2026
Date Deposited:	04 Mar 2026 14:24
Last Modified:	04 Mar 2026 14:24
DOI or ID number:	10.1136/bmjopen-2025-112546
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/28194

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