Interventions targeting motor skills in pre-school-aged children with direct or indirect parent engagement: a systematic review and narrative synthesis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Competency in fundamental movement skills (FMS) lays the foundation for developing more complex motor skills and supporting a physically active future. Preschoolaged children are at a crucial window of development, so intervening with motor skill programmes increases the likelihood of future physical activity (PA) participation. Parents/carers are principal gatekeepers for children's PA during the early years and influence their motor competence. Interventions that involve parents have shown to be effective in mediating improvements in FMS, yet to date, no studies have reviewed types of parental engagement within interventions in relation to motor competence outcomes. This review aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of motor skill interventions for preschoolers with the inclusion of a parental/home component. Literature searches were completed in PubMed, Sports Discuss and the Cochrane Library. Studies that implemented an intervention with direct or indirect parental engagement and evaluated FMS as an outcome measure were included. Seventeen studies met the inclusion criteria and a narrative synthesis of results suggested type of parent engagement may be associated with improvements in preschoolers' motor skills. It can be recommended that early years' motor skill interventions should include parents, ideally encouraging their active participation which may be the most influential form of parent engagement.