Early Years Physical Activity and Movement Skills Intervention: a Feasibility Study

Early Years Physical Activity and Movement Skills Intervention - Feasibility Study to Evaluate an Existing Training Programme for Early Years Practitioners

This project aims to test the feasibility of using an existing training course for nursery practitioners (those that care for children aged under 5 years) to improve their ability and confidence to teach fundamental movement skills to the children they care for. 'Fundamental movement skills', or FMS, are based on agility, balance and coordination, and include jumping, throwing, catching, striking and running and are vital for children's involvement in, and enjoyment from, physical activities and sports. The intervention consists of a one-day course given by specialist providers, specifically for those who work with children under 5. The intervention aims to increase practitioner knowledge and awareness, and increase confidence in their ability to provide age-appropriate guidance and settings for FMS and active play. The implication from the training is that the children's FMS and overall physical activity will increase, whilst decreasing time spent in sedentary behaviours. A long-term aim of the project would be the maintenance of a healthy weight by the children and increase in self-efficacy for physical activity. The benefits of the study, therefore, are an increase in practitioner confidence and knowledge, and a positive change in their behaviour during their everyday practice. As this is a feasibility study, the main objective is whether a full trial would be feasible. The primary outcomes are therefore 1. Recruitment (ratio of consented participants to potentially eligible participants approached) 2. Numbers completing study 3. Numbers completing study questionnaires 4. Acceptability of the intervention to participants.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Physical Activity; Child Obesity; Activity, Motor
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Physical literacy in the early years

Detailed Description

This is a pilot non-randomised controlled trial. The study was approved by the Newcastle University Research Ethics Committee (application number:01223/9764/2016). The intervention consists of a one-day course given by specialist providers, specifically for those who work with children under 5. The training consisted on helping practitioners around fundamental movement skills (balancing, jumping throwing, catching kicking) and helping them to develop a better understanding about the importance of physical activity for early years. The training also covered an introduction to the United Kingdom (UK) physical activity guidelines and how practitioners could translate the physical activity guidelines into practice. The course used an ecological model approach in the delivery of the intervention. The programme provided ideas for: creating enabling environments for physical activity; planning physical activity for all stages of development; balance child-initiated and adult-led physical activities; encourage parent and carer support and promotion of physical activity beyond the nursery setting. Data collection took place between February 2017 and June 2018. All nurseries and schools with nurseries in the Middlesbrough area were eligible to participate and were invited to take part.

The following measures were intended to be collected pre-intervention and 6 months post-intervention (follow-up). Practitioner behaviour was assessed by direct observation adapted from the Communication Supporting Classroom Observation Tool. Each observation lasted approximately 30 min and was conducted by one of the researchers. Knowledge of the physical activity guidelines and benefits of physical activity for early years was assessed by a customised questionnaire. Intentions for behaviour change was assessed by a questionnaire which covered the following domains: Knowledge; Skills; Social/Professional Role & Identity; Belief about Capabilities; Optimism; Beliefs about Consequences; Intentions; Goals- Action Planning; Goals - Priorities; Memory, Attention & Decision Processes; Environmental Context & Resources; Social Influences; Emotion; Behavioural Regulation; Social & Professional Role; Work Environment. Children. Physical activity was measured directly using a thigh-mounted accelerometer (activPAL) which has been validated in young children. Time in sitting, standing and stepping postures was measured during school or nurseries hours. Data were recorded in 15 s epoch and reduced to the percentage of wear time in each of the postures, to account for potential differences in wear time within and between participants. Height (to 0.1cm) and weight (to 0.1kg) were measured twice without socks or shoes, in indoor clothing. BMI was then derived, and z -scores created relative to UK 1990 data. Fundamental movement skills were assessed with the Movement Assessment Battery for Children 2 (Movement ABC-2) which covers fine and gross motor tasks, manual dexterity and balance. Process evaluation. Using focus groups, interviews and a questionnaire with all stakeholders explored the reasons for participation/non-participation of practitioners and families; participants' views and perceptions of the intervention in terms of acceptability, feasibility and usability. All data were exported to SPSS for analyses. Descriptive statistics for all variables of interest were generated

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 43
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, NE1 7RU
    • Newcastle University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 3 years to 4 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Children who are 3 to 4 years old at the time of data collection.
• Children who received parent/guardian consent.
• Children who provided assent to take part in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• None

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention group; Physical Literacy in the early years. The intervention was delivered by an external provider and designed to provide nursery teachers, teaching assistants and others working with children under age five the knowledge, skills and confidence to deliver enjoyable and engaging lessons which focus on the development of core "fundamental" skills. The course was developed in conjunction with leading Physical Education (PE) consultants, Sports Scientists and Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) advisors which covered both the theory about FMS and physical literacy, and practical demonstrations of age-appropriate ways to teach and develop FMS. Staff from the Intervention settings received the six-hour training session. After the training session, school nurseries which were encouraged to speak with the training provider to follow-up the understanding of the training and provide additional help for implementation of the practice learned.	Behavioral: Physical literacy in the early years; Intervention nurseries received a 6-hour training session, covering the theory about FMS and practical demonstrations of age-appropriate ways to teach and develop FMS.
No Intervention: Control; The control nurseries followed their usual practice.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in fundamental motor skills (FMS)	FMS, assessed with the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 which covers fine and gross motor tasks, manual dexterity and balance. Standard scores are translated to reference percentiles. Low percentiles indicate movement difficulties.	Baseline and 6 months post-intervention
Change in children's physical activity	Children's physical activity was measured directly using a thigh-mounted accelerometer (ActivPAL) for 7 days	Baseline and 6 months post-intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in body mass index z-score	Height (to 0.1cm) and weight (to 0.1kg) were measured twice without socks or shoes, in indoor clothing. BMI was then derived, and z -scores created relative to UK1990 data	Baseline and 6 months post-intervention
Change in practitioner behaviour	Practitioner behaviour was assessed by direct observation adapted from the Communication Supporting Classroom Observation Tool from the communication trust. Each observation lasted approximately 30 min and was conducted by one of the researchers.	Baseline and 6 months post-intervention
Change in knowledge of the physical activity guidelines	Knowledge of the physical activity guidelines and benefits of physical activity for early years was assessed by a customised questionnaire	Baseline and 6 months post-intervention
Change in intentions for behaviour change	Questionnaire adapted from Huijg et al. (2014) which covered the following domains: Knowledge; Skills; Social/ Professional Role & Identity; Belief about Capabilities; Optimism; Beliefs about Consequences; Intentions; GoalsAction Planning; Goals - Priorities; Memory, Attention & Decision Processes; Environmental Context & Resources; Social Influences; Emotion; Behavioural Regulation; Social & Professional Role; Work Environment. Children	Baseline and 6 months post-intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Newcastle University
• Collaborators: Teesside University; University of Huddersfield
• Investigators: Study Director: Laura Basterfield, PhD, Newcastle University

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• Huijg JM, Gebhardt WA, Crone MR, Dusseldorp E, Presseau J. Discriminant content validity of a theoretical domains framework questionnaire for use in implementation research. Implement Sci. 2014 Jan 15;9:11.
• Cole TJ, Freeman JV, Preece MA. Body mass index reference curves for the UK, 1990. Arch Dis Child. 1995 Jul;73(1):25-9
• Henderson SE, Sugden DA, Barnett AL. Movement assessment battery for children-2. Second edition (Movement ABC-2). London: The Psychological Corporation; 2007
• Dockrell, J. (2012). Developing a communication supporting classrooms observation tool.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 2, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 13, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): January 31, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 15, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 27, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): April 30, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 30, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 27, 2021
• Last Verified: February 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Preschool; Fundamental movement skills; Practitioner; Educational training; Early years
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Overnutrition; Nutrition Disorders; Overweight; Body Weight; Obesity; Pediatric Obesity
• Other Study ID Numbers: Early years physical activity

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: This needs to be discussed with other co-authors and be checked with ethics committee from Newcastle University.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No