BackgroundEarly Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) teachers at urban preschools are potential key figures to promote healthy behaviours in disadvantaged young children and to engage parents in lifestyle-related topics. An ECEC teacher-parent partnership regarding healthy behaviours may support parents and stimulate their children’s development. However, it is not an easy task to establish such a collaboration and ECEC teachers need tools to communicate with parents about lifestyle-related topics. This paper describes the study protocol of a preschool-based intervention (CO-HEALTHY) to promote an ECEC teacher-parent partnership regarding healthy eating, physical (in)activity and sleeping behaviours in young children.MethodsA cluster randomised controlled trial will be performed at preschools in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Preschools will be randomly allocated to an intervention or control group. The intervention consists of a toolkit with 10 parent-child activities and associated training for ECEC teachers. The activities were composed using the Intervention Mapping protocol. At intervention preschools, ECEC teachers will carry out the activities during standard contact moments. Parents will receive associated intervention materials and will be encouraged to perform similar parent-child activities at home. At control preschools, the toolkit and training will not be implemented. The primary outcome will be the teacher- and parent-reported partnership regarding healthy eating, physical (in)activity and sleeping behaviours in young children. The perceived partnership will be assessed by a questionnaire at baseline and at 6 months. In addition, short interviews with ECEC teachers will be held. Secondary outcomes include the knowledge, attitude, food- and activity-related practices of ECEC teachers and parents. Furthermore, children’s eating, physical (in)activity and sleeping behaviours, and weight development will be assessed. A process evaluation of the intervention will be made.DiscussionThe intervention aims to provide a practical tool for ECEC teachers at urban preschools to promote an ECEC teacher-parent partnership regarding a healthy lifestyle in young children.Trial registrationNetherlands Trial Register (NTR): NL8883. Date registered: September 8, 2020.
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In their developmental model, Stodden et al. (2008) propose age-dependent relations between motor competence, physical activity,perceived motor competence, physical fitness, and weight status thatcan lead to a spiral of (dis)engagement. The goal of this study was toexplore these relations in a large sample of Dutch primary schoolchildren. To our knowledge, this is the first study including all fiveaspects of the model and a large sample of children between four andthirteen years old. Cross-sectional data was collected in 2068 children(ages 4–13), divided over 9 age groups. During physical educationclasses, they completed the 4-Skills Test, a physical activity question-naire, versions of the Self-Perception Profile for Children, Eurofit testand anthropometry measurements. Correlation coefficients per agegroup were calculated (full information maximum likelihood) andtransformed using a Fisher’s r to z transformation, after which thetest-statistic z was calculated. The results show that all five factors arerelated to each other and that a tipping point exists at which relationsemerge or strengthen. Physical fitness is related to motor competenceand physical activity and these relationships strengthen with age. Arelationship between BMI and the other four factors emerges in middlechildhood. Although the model described that physical activity stimu-lates motor competence in early childhood, our data showed that at ayoung age, both motor competence and perceived motor competencehad no relation with physical activity, while they were weakly related toeach other. In middle childhood, both motor competence and perceivedmotor competence were related to physical activity. Our findingsdemonstrate that children in late childhood who have higher perceivedmotor competence are also more physically active, have higher physicalfitness, higher motor competence and lower BMI. Our results indicatethat targeting motor competence at a young age might be a feasible wayto ensure continued participation in physical activities throughoutchildhood and adolescence. Funding source: Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research.
The goal of this cross-sectional study was to further explore the relationships between motor competence, physical activity, perceived motor competence, physical fitness and weight status in different age categories of Dutch primary school children. Participants were 2068 children aged 4 to 13 years old, divided over 9 age groups. During physical education classes, they completed the 4-Skills Test, a physical activity questionnaire, versions of the Self-Perception Profile for Children, Eurofit test and anthropometry measurements. Results show that all five factors included in the analyses are related to each other and that a tipping point exists at which relations emerge or strengthen. Physical fitness is related to both motor competence and physical activity and these relationships strengthen with age. A relationship between body mass index and the other four factors emerges in middle childhood. Interestingly, at a young age, motor competence and perceived motor competence are weakly related, but neither one of these have a relation with physical activity. In middle childhood, both motor competence and perceived motor competence are related to physical activity. Our findings show that children in late childhood who have higher perceived motor competence are also more physically active, have higher physical fitness, higher motor competence and lower body mass index. Our results indicate that targeting motor competence at a young age might be a feasible way to ensure continued participation in physical activities throughout childhood and adolescence.
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