Abstract
BackgroundSeveral systematic reviews have reviewed the evidence relating to nature on aspects of children and adolescent’s health and wellbeing; however, none have looked at the associations or effectiveness of attending nature-based early childhood education (ECE). The main objective is to systematically review and synthesise the evidence to determine if nature-based ECE enhances children’s health, wellbeing and development.MethodsWe will search the following electronic databases (from inception onwards): MEDLINE, Scopus, PsycINFO, ERIC, SportDiscus, Australian Education Index, British Education Index, Child Development and Adolescent studies, and Applied Social Sciences Index and s. Grey literature will be identified searching dissertations and reports (e.g. Open Grey, Dissertations Theses Database [ProQuest], and Google Scholar). All types of studies (quantitative and qualitative) conducted in children (aged 2–7 years old) attending ECE who had not started education at primary or elementary school will be included. The exposure of interest will be nature-based ECE settings that integrate nature into their philosophy and/or curriculum and environment. The outcomes of interest will be all aspects of the child’s physical, cognitive, social and emotional health wellbeing and development. Two reviewers will independently screen full-text articles. The study methodological quality (or bias) will be appraised using appropriate tools. If feasible, a meta-analysis will be conducted using a random-effect model for studies similar in exposure and outcome. Where studies cannot be included in a meta-analysis, findings will be summarised based on the effect directions and a thematic analysis will be conducted for qualitative studies.DiscussionThis systematic review will capture the state of the current literature on nature-based ECE for child health, wellbeing and development. The results of this study will be of interest to multiple audiences (including researchers and policy makers). Results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. Gaps for future research will be identified and discussed.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42019152582
Highlights
Several systematic reviews have reviewed the evidence relating to nature on aspects of children and adolescent’s health and wellbeing; none have looked at the associations or effectiveness of attending nature-based early childhood education (ECE)
Time spent outdoors engaging in physical activity through active and outdoor play may be associated with higher levels of physical activity [1, 2] which is important for improving health outcomes, including fitness, weight management, bone density and mental wellbeing [3, 4]
The certainty of evidence will be rated up or down depending on these criteria to provide an overall rating for the certainty of the evidence: very low, low, moderate and high [22]. This protocol presents the planned methodology for a systematic review covering both published and unpublished quantitative and qualitative studies that aim to determine the effects of nature based ECE on all aspects of children’s health, wellbeing and development
Summary
The systematic review protocol was registered to the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (CRD42019152582). Qualitative data One reviewer will read through each eligible qualitative study and provide a summary of the main themes as reported by the study author and any other relevant information. Inclusion of qualitative data aims to complement quantitative findings by explaining potential confounding factors and pathways of nature-based ECE on children’s health wellbeing and/or development, or to evidence outcomes that may not be reported in quantitative studies. If the type and amount of data allow, we will conduct subgroup analyses to investigate differential associations and/or effects of the following: differences by age (2–5 years; 5–7 years), differences between girls and boys, different time points of outcome assessment, different durations of time spent in nature-based ECE (half day vs full day; number of days) and level of exposure to nature (high exposure to nature vs minimal exposure to nature). The certainty of evidence will be rated up or down depending on these criteria to provide an overall rating for the certainty of the evidence: very low (true effect different from estimated effect, very likely to change with new evidence emerging), low, moderate and high (true effect is similar to estimated effect; unlikely to change with new evidence emerging) [22]
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