Dias Rodrigues Andreia, Marmeleira José, Pomar Clarinda, Lamy Elsa, Guerreiro Daniela, Veiga Guida
Departamento de Desporto e Saúde, Escola de Saúde e Desenvolvimento Humano, Universidade de Évora, Évora, Portugal.
Comprehensive Health Research Centre (CHRC), Universidade de Évora, Évora, Portugal.
Front Psychol. 2023 Jul 31;14:1198199. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1198199. eCollection 2023.
Social-emotional competence is foundational to children's health and well-being. Body-oriented interventions, such as relaxation or play based interventions, have been shown to promote social-emotional competence, however more studies are needed to better understand the specific benefits of each type of body-oriented approach.
The present study aimed to examine the chronic and the acute effects of three body-oriented intervention programs (loose parts play, relaxation and combining loose parts play and relaxation) on preschoolers' social-emotional competence.
A quasi-experimental study was carried out, including 62 preschoolers (4.44 ± 0.93 years) that were allocated into 4 groups: Loose Parts Play program ( = 17); Relaxation program ( = 17); Combined program ( = 13); and Waitlist Control Group (no intervention; = 15). All three intervention programs had a 12-week duration, with biweekly sessions of 30-min, implemented in the preschool outdoors. To examine the chronic effects of the intervention programs, all instruments (parents' and preschool teacher's questionnaires, tasks and saliva) were collected at baseline and after the 12-week period. To examine the acute effects, saliva samples were collected immediately before and after the 1st and the 24th sessions, with a total of 4 collections per child.
Both loose parts play and relaxation interventions significantly improved ( < 0.05) children's positive emotion expression. Several within-groups changes were found for the Loose parts play, Relaxation and Combined programs.
Body-oriented interventions effectively promote preschoolers' social-emotional competence.
社会情感能力是儿童健康和幸福的基础。以身体为导向的干预措施，如放松或游戏干预，已被证明能促进社会情感能力，然而，需要更多的研究来更好地理解每种身体导向方法的具体益处。
本研究旨在探讨三种以身体为导向的干预项目（松散部件游戏、放松以及将松散部件游戏与放松相结合）对学龄前儿童社会情感能力的长期和短期影响。
进行了一项准实验研究，包括62名学龄前儿童（4.44 ± 0.93岁），他们被分为4组：松散部件游戏组（n = 17）；放松组（n = 17）；组合组（n = 13）；以及候补控制组（无干预；n = 15）。所有三个干预项目为期12周，每两周进行一次30分钟的课程，在户外幼儿园实施。为了检验干预项目的长期影响，在基线和12周后收集所有工具（家长和幼儿园教师问卷、任务和唾液样本）。为了检验短期影响，在第1次和第24次课程前后立即收集唾液样本，每个儿童总共收集4次。
松散部件游戏和放松干预均显著改善了（p < 0.05）儿童的积极情绪表达。在松散部件游戏组、放松组和组合组中发现了几个组内变化。
以身体为导向的干预有效地促进了学龄前儿童的社会情感能力。
