title: Design and implementation of a physical activity intervention to enhance children's use of the built environment (the CUBE study).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Adequate physical activity promotes physical and mental health and decreases obesity risk. However, most adolescents do not attain recommended physical activity levels and effective interventions are lacking. Physical activity trials rarely incorporate built environment use patterns.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This paper describes the design and rationale of the Children's Use of the Built Environment (CUBE) Study, an office-based intervention designed to teach youth how to use their surrounding built environment to increase physical activity.
  
  
  METHODS
  CUBE is a 6-month intervention trial among 60 overweight and obese 10-16 year old adolescents from a community health center in Massachusetts. The study began in the winter of 2013. Patients are sequentially assigned to either the intervention or control group. Baseline physical activity by accelerometry and location by GPS, along with measured height, weight, and blood pressure are collected. Control subjects receive standard of care lifestyle counseling. Intervention subjects receive tailored recommendations on how to increase their physical activity based on their accelerometer and GPS data. Data collections are repeated at end-of-treatment, and again 3 months later.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings from this study should help guide future efforts to design interventions aimed at increasing adolescent physical activity as well as to inform design professionals and government officials charged with creating outdoor spaces where adolescents spend time.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Academic Pediatrics, MassGeneral Hospital for Children, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: noreskovic@mgh.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Nicolas M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Oreskovic
authors.affiliation: Division of General Academic Pediatrics, MassGeneral Hospital for Children, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: egoodman3@mgh.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Goodman
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: epark@mgh.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Elyse R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Division of General Academic Pediatrics, MassGeneral Hospital for Children, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: arobinson13@mgh.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Alyssa I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.affiliation: Division of General Academic Pediatrics, MassGeneral Hospital for Children, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: jwinickoff@mgh.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Jonathan P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Winickoff
mesh_terms: D061725:Accelerometry; D000293:Adolescent; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001837:Body Weights and Measures; D002648:Child; D003376:Counseling; D004779:Environment Design; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000628:therapy*; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000628:therapy*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012107:Research Design
keywords: Adolescents; Built environment; Intervention; Obesity; Physical activity