J Phys Act Health. 2020 Apr 1;17(4):423-428. doi: 10.1123/jpah.2019-0119.
To examine the relationship between attributes of early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings and children's physical activity and sedentary behavior.
Cross-sectional study involving 490 children aged 2-5 years from 11 ECECs. The ECEC routine, size of the outdoor environment, and time spent in the outdoor environment were calculated for each center. Children's physical activity and sedentary time were measured using accelerometers. Multivariate linear regressions were used to examine associations of the attributes of ECEC centers with the outcome variables, adjusting for the effects of center clustering and gender.
Children in ECECs that offered free routines (where children can move freely between indoor and outdoor environments) had lower levels of sedentary time (28.27 min/h vs 33.15 min/h; P = .001) and spent more time in total physical activity (7.99 min/h vs 6.57 min/h; P = .008) and moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (9.49 min/h vs 7.31 min/h; P = .008). Children in ECECs with an outdoor environment >400 m2 had less sedentary time (28.94 min/h vs 32.42 min/h; P = .012) than those with areas <400 m2.
Modifiable practices such as offering a free routine and increasing time spent in outdoor environments could potentially offer an easy and sustainable way for ECEC centers to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary time among children.
研究了幼儿教育和保育（ECEC）环境的属性与儿童身体活动和久坐行为之间的关系。
这是一项涉及 11 个 ECEC 的 490 名 2-5 岁儿童的横断面研究。为每个中心计算了 ECEC 常规、户外环境的大小以及在户外环境中度过的时间。使用加速度计测量儿童的身体活动和久坐时间。使用多元线性回归来检验 ECEC 中心属性与结果变量之间的关联，同时调整中心聚类和性别效应。
在提供自由常规（儿童可以在室内和室外环境之间自由移动）的 ECEC 中，儿童的久坐时间较低（28.27 分钟/小时比 33.15 分钟/小时；P =.001），总身体活动时间更长（7.99 分钟/小时比 6.57 分钟/小时；P =.008）和中等到剧烈强度的身体活动（9.49 分钟/小时比 7.31 分钟/小时；P =.008）。户外环境>400m2 的 ECEC 中的儿童的久坐时间较少（28.94 分钟/小时比 32.42 分钟/小时；P =.012），而户外环境<400m2 的儿童则较多。
一些可改变的做法，如提供自由常规和增加户外环境时间，可能为 ECEC 中心提供一种简单且可持续的方式，促进儿童身体活动并减少久坐时间。
