Abstract
BackgroundEarly childhood education (ECE) centers are an important place for preschool-aged children to obtain physical activity (PA). A U.S. state government (Louisiana) recently updated requirements for licensed centers’ PA and screen-time policies, which allowed for assessment of 1) ECE center practices, environment, staff behaviors, and policies changes on child-level PA and 2) state level changes on the ECE center.MethodsECE centers were assessed at the beginning of state licensing changes and 1-year later. The ECE centers were assessed via the Environmental Policy Assessment and Observation (EPAO) tool. The EPAO Sedentary Opportunities score, which primarily assesses television viewing time, was revised to reflect viewing non-television devices (e.g. tablets). Child-level PA was measured using accelerometry. For Aim 1, mixed models assessed ECE center changes and child PA with adjustment for demographic characteristics (fixed effects), baseline EPAO score (random effects), and clustering for center. For Aim 2, paired t-tests assessed ECE center environment differences between baseline and follow-up.ResultsNine ECE centers participated and 49 preschoolers provided complete measures at both time points. For Aim 1, increases in the EPAO revised-Sedentary Opportunities score (as in less non-television screen-time) resulted in increased child PA (p = 0.02). For Aim 2, ECE centers improved their EPAO Active Opportunities and Staff Behaviors score (p = 0.04 and p = 0.02 respectively).ConclusionsECE centers improved their environment after 1-year, resulting in additional child PA. Changes in ECE centers environment, possibly through policy, can positively influence children’s PA.
Highlights
Childhood education (ECE) centers are an important place for preschool-aged children to obtain physical activity (PA)
The study was designed to occur in ten early childhood education (ECE) centers for adequate power to compare differences before and after implementation based on previous research [11]
One center that participated in baseline did not participate in follow-up measures due to small sample size (n = 7 children participated but n = 3 children had complete measures) and change in center management during follow-up year; this center could not be included in the analyses
Summary
Childhood education (ECE) centers are an important place for preschool-aged children to obtain physical activity (PA). Physical activity is paramount for appropriate growth and development of young children [1]. One-third of preschool age children (3-to-5 years of age) did not meet the physical activity guidelines including 3 hours of physical activity daily (of which 1 hour is moderate-to-vigorous physical activity [MVPA]), according to recent evidence in Canadian children [2]. Children are spending time viewing television, computer, and other screens, i.e. engaged in screen-time, which has been associated with excess weight in a cross-sectional analysis of 1809 preschool age children [3]. Screen-time guidelines for preschool children are less than 1 hour of screen-time daily [4], yet another cross-sectional study indicated few preschool age children (24.4%) meet these guidelines [2]. Opportunities to increase physical activity and decrease screen-time in preschool age children are necessary to meet age appropriate guidelines and ensure healthy development.
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