Campbell Amanda, Lassiter Jill, Ertel Michael, Taliaferro Andrea R, Walker Mackenzie L, Brian Ali S
Department of Health and Human Sciences, Bridgewater College, Bridgewater, VA 22812, USA.
Department of Health Sciences, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA 22801, USA.
Children (Basel). 2024 Mar 19;11(3):362. doi: 10.3390/children11030362.
While schools provide one opportunity to encourage physical activity, caregivers play an exceedingly important role in creating an environment conducive to preschool children's physical activity. Yet, little is known regarding the perceptions of caregivers, important choice agents for young children's physical activity behavior after participating in a motor skill program. The purpose of this study was to examine caregivers' perceptions of facilitators and barriers to children's physical activity at home among rural, low-income families who participated in a school-based early childhood physical activity program, SKIPping with PALS, designed to increase physical activity and improve motor development. Eleven caregivers consented to participate in a semi-structured interview regarding their perceptions of physical activity and their experience after six months of participation in the program. An inductive, naturalistic evaluation approach was utilized for qualitative data analysis, following the six recursive phases of thematic analysis. A review of the interview transcripts revealed that all caregivers valued physical activity and encouraged their children to be active. Four major facilitators, four major barriers, and an overarching theme of parental support for childhood physical activity were identified. These factors are largely circumstantial and attitudinal and, thus, are difficult to modify but are important to be cognizant of when designing interventions.
虽然学校提供了一个鼓励体育活动的机会，但照顾者在营造有利于学龄前儿童体育活动的环境方面发挥着极其重要的作用。然而，对于参与运动技能项目后作为幼儿体育活动行为重要选择因素的照顾者的看法，我们却知之甚少。本研究的目的是调查参与一项以学校为基础的幼儿体育活动项目“与伙伴一起跳绳”（SKIPping with PALS）的农村低收入家庭中照顾者对家中儿童体育活动的促进因素和障碍的看法，该项目旨在增加体育活动并改善运动发育。11名照顾者同意参与一项关于他们对体育活动的看法以及参与该项目6个月后的经历的半结构化访谈。采用归纳性、自然主义的评估方法，按照主题分析的六个递归阶段对定性数据进行分析。对访谈记录的审查显示，所有照顾者都重视体育活动，并鼓励他们的孩子积极参与。确定了四个主要促进因素、四个主要障碍以及父母对儿童体育活动支持的总体主题。这些因素在很大程度上是环境和态度方面的，因此难以改变，但在设计干预措施时了解这些因素很重要。
