Veiga Guida, Guerreiro Daniela, Marmeleira José, Santos Graça Duarte, Pomar Clarinda
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 Aug 3;14:1195305. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1195305. eCollection 2023.
Time for movement and outdoor experiences has decreased in children's daily lives. Nevertheless, a growing body of research has shown that body-oriented interventions and outdoor time benefit preschoolers' social-emotional development, a foundation for mental health. OUT to IN is a body-oriented intervention program implemented outdoors, designed to promote preschoolers' social-emotional competence. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of OUT to IN on preschoolers' self-regulation and relationship skills.
A cluster randomized trial with multi-method and multi-informant assessment was implemented including 233 children between 3 and 6 years (122 boys, = 5.07 years), from 4 preschools (8 groups with OUT to IN intervention, 4 groups without intervention - control group). The 153 children allocated to the OUT to IN group participated in biweekly sessions for 10 weeks. OUT to IN sessions followed a body-oriented approach comprising exercise play, relaxation, and symbolization activities, implemented outdoors by a psychomotor therapist and the preschool teacher. Sessions enabled children to feel, observe and control their bodily states and understand the relationship between their bodies and emotions. Teachers participated in a brief course and on 20 biweekly relaxation sessions. Children's self-regulation was measured through specific tasks and a parent questionnaire. Relationship skills (i.e., empathy, communication, cooperation and sociability) were measured through parents' and preschool teachers' questionnaires. Mann-Whitney test was used to study differences at baseline between the OUT to IN group and the control group, and to study differences in the 10-week changes between both groups. Wilcoxon Test was used for intragroup comparisons.
After the 10-week intervention period, children who participated in OUT to IN showed significant improvements on self-regulation and relationship skills (empathy, cooperation and sociability), in comparison to the control group who did not show any significant improvements. Large size effects ( > 0.14) were found for most of the variables related to self-regulation and small ( > 0.01), medium ( > 0.06) and large size effects ( > 0.14) were found for the variables related to relationship skills.
OUT to IN showed to be an effective body-oriented intervention program in improving children's self-regulation and relationship skills, which are recognized foundations for mental health and well-being.
儿童日常生活中用于活动和户外体验的时间有所减少。然而，越来越多的研究表明，以身体为导向的干预措施和户外时间对学龄前儿童的社会情感发展有益，而社会情感发展是心理健康的基础。“由外及内”是一项在户外实施的以身体为导向的干预项目，旨在提升学龄前儿童的社会情感能力。本研究旨在评估“由外及内”项目对学龄前儿童自我调节能力和社交技能的影响。
开展了一项采用多方法和多信息源评估的整群随机试验，研究对象包括来自4所幼儿园的233名3至6岁儿童（122名男孩，平均年龄 = 5.07岁）（8个小组接受“由外及内”干预，4个小组不接受干预——对照组）。分配到“由外及内”组的153名儿童参加了为期10周的双周课程。“由外及内”课程采用以身体为导向的方法，包括运动游戏、放松和象征活动，由一名心理运动治疗师和幼儿园教师在户外实施。这些课程让孩子们能够感受、观察和控制自己的身体状态，并理解身体与情绪之间的关系。教师参加了一个简短的课程以及20次双周放松课程。通过特定任务和家长问卷来测量儿童的自我调节能力。通过家长和幼儿园教师问卷来测量社交技能（即同理心、沟通、合作和社交能力）。使用曼-惠特尼检验来研究“由外及内”组与对照组在基线时的差异，以及两组在10周变化中的差异。使用威尔科克森检验进行组内比较。
在为期10周的干预期结束后，与未显示出任何显著改善的对照组相比，参加“由外及内”项目的儿童在自我调节能力和社交技能（同理心、合作和社交能力）方面有显著改善。与自我调节相关的大多数变量显示出较大的效应量（> 0.14），与社交技能相关的变量显示出小（> 0.01）、中（> 0.06）和大（> 0.14）的效应量。
“由外及内”项目是一个有效的以身体为导向的干预项目，能够提高儿童的自我调节能力和社交技能，而这些能力是公认的心理健康和幸福的基础。
