Center for Children's Healthy Lifestyles and Nutrition, Children's Mercy, 610 E 22nd St, Kansas City, MO 64108 (
Department of Behavioral and Social Health Sciences, School of Public Health, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
Prev Chronic Dis. 2023 Jul 13;20:E60. doi: 10.5888/pcd20.220325.
Early childcare has been identified as an influential setting for children's physical activity. Our objective was to determine whether children aged 2 to 5 years had more accelerometer-measured minutes of physical activity when caregivers in their family childcare home (FCCH) adhered to best practices for physical activity and screen time.
We analyzed baseline 2-day observation data collected by using the Environment and Policy Assessment and Observation measure from a cluster-randomized trial. Multilevel linear regression models assessed the association between caregivers' meeting best practices for physical activity and screen time and children's time spent sedentary or in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA).
All FCCH caregivers (N = 120) in our study were female, and 67.5% were Hispanic. Participating children (N = 349) were 52.1% female and 57.4% Hispanic. A higher score among caregivers for physical activity best practices was associated with more MVPA (B = 0.79; 95% CI, 0.02 to 1.56; P = .04) for children and less sedentary time (B = -2.07; 95% CI, -3.94 to -0.19; P = .04). A higher caregiver score for screen time best practices was associated with less sedentary time (B = -2.07; 95% CI, -3.94 to -0.19; P = .04) and more MVPA time (B = 0.65; 95% CI, 0.03 to .27; P = .04). Children in homes where caregivers offered them 60 minutes or more of outdoor play and participated in outdoor physical activity had more MVPA and less sedentary time. We found no association between various screen-time best practices and children's sedentary time.
Children with caregivers who used more best practices for physical activity and screen time had higher activity levels and spent less time sedentary. These findings could help policy makers and people caring for young children modify existing policies and develop programs to help early childhood caregivers implement best practices to promote children's physical activity.
早期儿童保育已被确定为影响儿童身体活动的重要环境因素。我们的目的是确定 2 至 5 岁儿童在家庭日托中心（FCCH）的照顾者遵守身体活动和屏幕时间的最佳实践时，是否会有更多的加速度计测量的身体活动分钟数。
我们分析了一项基于群组的随机试验中使用环境和政策评估与观察措施收集的 2 天基线观察数据。多水平线性回归模型评估了照顾者满足身体活动和屏幕时间最佳实践与儿童久坐或中高强度体力活动（MVPA）时间之间的关联。
我们研究中的所有 FCCH 照顾者（N=120）均为女性，67.5%为西班牙裔。参与研究的儿童（N=349）中，52.1%为女性，57.4%为西班牙裔。照顾者在身体活动最佳实践方面的得分较高与儿童的 MVPA 时间增加（B=0.79；95%CI，0.02 至 1.56；P=0.04）和久坐时间减少（B=-2.07；95%CI，-3.94 至 -0.19；P=0.04）有关。照顾者在屏幕时间最佳实践方面的得分较高与久坐时间减少（B=-2.07；95%CI，-3.94 至 -0.19；P=0.04）和 MVPA 时间增加（B=0.65；95%CI，0.03 至 0.27；P=0.04）有关。在照顾者提供 60 分钟或以上户外活动并参与户外活动的家庭中，儿童的 MVPA 时间更长，久坐时间更少。我们没有发现各种屏幕时间最佳实践与儿童久坐时间之间的关联。
照顾者更多地采用身体活动和屏幕时间的最佳实践的儿童活动水平更高，久坐时间更少。这些发现可以帮助政策制定者和照顾幼儿的人修改现有政策并制定计划，以帮助幼儿照顾者实施最佳实践，促进儿童的身体活动。
