Nathan Andrea, Adams Emma, Trost Stewart, Cross Donna, Schipperijn Jasper, McLaughlin Matthew, Thornton Ashleigh, Trapp Georgina, Lester Leanne, George Phoebe, Wenden Elizabeth, Christian Hayley
Telethon Kids Institute, Perth, Australia.
School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2022 Feb 14;22(1):306. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-12729-5.
Daily physical activity is critical during the early years of life for facilitating children's health and development. A large proportion of preschool children do not achieve the recommended 3 h of daily physical activity. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are a key setting to intervene to increase physical activity. There is a significant need for ECEC specific physical activity policy, including clearer guidelines on the amount of physical activity children should do during care, and strategies for implementation of these guidelines.
This study is a pragmatic cluster randomised trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the Play Active physical activity policy intervention to improve early childhood education and care educator's physical activity-related practices. The central component of Play Active is an evidence-informed physical activity policy template which includes 25 practices to support nine age-specific recommendations on the amount of physical activity and sedentary time, including screen time, young children should do while in care. There are six implementation support strategies to facilitate physical activity policy implementation: (i) personalise policy (services select at least five of the 25 practices to focus on initially); (ii) policy review and approval; (iii) a resource guide; (iv) a brief assessment tool for monitoring children's energetic play; (v) professional development; and (vi) Project Officer implementation support (phone calls). A total of 60 early childhood education and care services will be recruited from metropolitan Perth, Western Australia. After baseline assessment, services will be randomly allocated to either intervention or wait-listed comparison conditions. Primary (educator-reported frequency and amount of daily time provided for children's physical activity, sedentary and screen time) and secondary (educator physical activity-related practices, self-efficacy, motivation, attitudes and beliefs, social support, and supportive physical environment) outcomes will be assessed at baseline and post-intervention, after intervention services have had a minimum 3 months of policy implementation within their service.
The Play Active trial will rigorously evaluate a novel physical activity policy intervention with implementation support that promotes positive physical activity behaviours in educators and children attending ECEC. If effective, the program could be adapted, scaled-up and delivered in ECEC services nationally.
Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12620001206910 (date of registration 13/11/2020).
在儿童生命的早期阶段，日常体育活动对于促进其健康和发育至关重要。很大一部分学龄前儿童未达到建议的每日3小时体育活动量。幼儿教育与保育（ECEC）服务是进行干预以增加体育活动的关键场所。迫切需要针对ECEC的具体体育活动政策，包括关于儿童在保育期间应进行的体育活动量的更明确指导方针，以及实施这些指导方针的策略。
本研究是一项实用的整群随机试验，旨在评估“积极玩耍”体育活动政策干预措施对改善幼儿教育与保育教育工作者与体育活动相关实践的有效性。“积极玩耍”的核心组成部分是一个基于证据的体育活动政策模板，其中包括25项实践措施，以支持关于体育活动量和久坐时间（包括屏幕时间）的九项针对特定年龄的建议，这些是幼儿在保育期间应达到的。有六项实施支持策略来促进体育活动政策的实施：（i）使政策个性化（各服务机构最初从25项实践措施中选择至少五项予以重点关注）；（ii）政策审查与批准；（iii）一份资源指南；（iv）一个用于监测儿童活力玩耍的简短评估工具；（v）专业发展；以及（vi）项目官员实施支持（电话沟通）。将从西澳大利亚州珀斯市招募总共60个幼儿教育与保育服务机构。在进行基线评估后，各服务机构将被随机分配到干预组或等待名单对照组。主要结局指标（教育工作者报告的为儿童提供的每日体育活动、久坐和屏幕时间的频率及时长）和次要结局指标（教育工作者与体育活动相关的实践、自我效能感、动机、态度和信念、社会支持以及支持性的体育环境）将在基线时以及干预后进行评估，干预组服务机构在其服务范围内实施政策至少3个月后进行评估。
“积极玩耍”试验将严格评估一项具有实施支持的新型体育活动政策干预措施，该措施可促进参与ECEC的教育工作者和儿童形成积极的体育活动行为。如果有效，该项目可在全国范围内的ECEC服务机构中进行调整、扩大规模并推广。
澳大利亚新西兰临床试验注册中心ACTRN12620001206910（注册日期2020年11月13日）。
