Bruijns Brianne A, Bourke Matthew, Saravanamuttoo Kendall, Tucker Patricia
School of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, Western University, 1201 Western Road, Elborn College, Room 2547, London, ON N6G 1H1 Canada.
Health and Wellbeing Centre for Research Innovation, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD Australia.
J Act Sedentary Sleep Behav. 2024;3(1):12. doi: 10.1186/s44167-024-00051-x. Epub 2024 May 17.
Engaging in healthy movement behaviours in early childhood is beneficial for children's development, and parents play a critical role in shaping movement habits during these formative years. This study aimed to explore parents' knowledge of the (The Guidelines) and their perceived knowledge and self-efficacy of movement behaviour concepts in early childhood. The influence of sociodemographic characteristics on these variables was also examined.
Via a cross-sectional online survey with parents/guardians ( = 576) of young children in Canada, participants' knowledge of The Guidelines (11 items), and perceived knowledge (11 items; 5-point scale) and self-efficacy (11 items; 11-point scale) of movement behaviour concepts in early childhood were examined. Descriptive statistics were calculated for independent variables and multivariate regression models were estimated to examine sociodemographic factors that were associated with participants' knowledge and self-efficacy.
Few participants (11.9%) reported to be familiar with The Guidelines. Parents were most knowledgeable about the screen time guideline for children under 2 years (75.0% correctly identified the guideline) and least familiar with the recommendation for toddler/preschooler total physical activity (14.7% correctly identified the guideline). Parents/guardians perceived they were the most knowledgeable about safe sleep practices (65.9% very/extremely knowledgeable) and least knowledgeable about muscle- and bone-strengthening activities (71.8% not at all/somewhat knowledgeable). Overall, parents/guardians were moderately confident in promoting healthy movement behaviours ( = 6.01; = 1.73). Participants with higher levels of education reported significantly higher perceived knowledge compared to those who were less educated ( = .004), and parents/guardians identifying as White reported significantly higher levels of self-efficacy compared to parents/guardians from minority ethnic groups ( = .028). Finally, parents/guardians who were more physically active reported both higher perceived knowledge ( < .001) and self-efficacy ( < .001) than those who were less active.
These findings shed light on the need to raise awareness of The Guidelines among parents of young children and highlight specific movement behaviour concepts in need of focus in future training for this population. Targeted education for parents/guardians from lower socioeconomic groups is also needed to address equity concerns.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s44167-024-00051-x.
在幼儿期养成健康的运动行为对儿童的发育有益，而父母在这些成长阶段塑造运动习惯方面起着关键作用。本研究旨在探讨父母对《指南》的了解，以及他们对幼儿期运动行为概念的感知知识和自我效能感。还考察了社会人口学特征对这些变量的影响。
通过对加拿大幼儿的父母/监护人（n = 576）进行横断面在线调查，考察参与者对《指南》（11项）的了解，以及对幼儿期运动行为概念的感知知识（11项；5分制）和自我效能感（11项；11分制）。计算自变量的描述性统计量，并估计多元回归模型以考察与参与者的知识和自我效能感相关的社会人口学因素。
很少有参与者（11.9%）报告熟悉《指南》。父母对2岁以下儿童的屏幕使用时间指南了解最多（75.0%正确识别该指南），对幼儿/学龄前儿童总体身体活动的建议最不熟悉（14.7%正确识别该指南）。父母/监护人认为他们对安全睡眠习惯了解最多（65.9%非常/极其了解），对肌肉和骨骼强化活动了解最少（71.8%完全不/有点了解）。总体而言，父母/监护人在促进健康运动行为方面有中等程度的信心（M = 6.01；SD = 1.73）。与受教育程度较低的参与者相比，受教育程度较高的参与者报告的感知知识显著更高（p = 0.004），与少数族裔的父母/监护人相比，认同为白人的父母/监护人报告的自我效能感显著更高（p = 0.028）。最后，身体活动较多的父母/监护人报告的感知知识（p < 0.001）和自我效能感（p < 0.001）均高于活动较少的父母/监护人。
这些发现揭示了提高幼儿父母对《指南》认识的必要性，并突出了在未来针对该人群的培训中需要重点关注的特定运动行为概念。还需要对社会经济地位较低群体的父母/监护人进行有针对性的教育，以解决公平问题。
在线版本包含可在10.1186/s44167 - 024 - 00051 - x获取的补充材料。
