Abstract
BackgroundAlthough physical activity (PA) integrated in schools’ classrooms have shown a positive effect on children’s behaviors, its effectiveness on cognitive functions, PA levels and other health variables remains unclear. This article outlines the rationale and methods of two classroom-based PA interventions (MOVI-da10!) on improving adiposity, executive function and motor competence in preschool children.MethodsA three-arm cluster-randomized controlled trial (RCT) was carried out including eight schools (rural and urban areas) from Cuenca province, Spain. The schools were allocated to one of three groups: MOVI-da10-Enriched! intervention (n = 3), MOVI-da10-Standard! intervention, (n = 2), and the control group (n = 3). Around 900 children aged 4 to 6 years old were assesed at baseline (September 2017) and at the end (June 2018) of the intervention. The primary outcomes were changes in body fat by bioimpedance, executive function and motor competence. During a school year (from October 2017 to May 2018), children belonging to the MOVI-da10-Enriched! group performed enriched PA integrated into the academic curriculum including two active breaks lasting 10 min, 5 days/week. The children belonging to the MOVI-da10-Standard! group performed PA breaks (with low cognitive demand, where curricular contents were not reinforced) including two active breaks lasting 10 min, 5 days/week. In the control group, regular PA continued.DiscussionTo our knowledge, MOVI-da10! is the first RCT to examine the effectiveness of two programs (enriched PA integrated into the academic curriculum and PA breaks only) versus a control group on improving adiposity, executive function and motor competence in preschool children.Trial registrationNCT03236363 (clinicaltrials.gov), 31st July 2017.
Highlights
Physical activity (PA) integrated in schools’ classrooms have shown a positive effect on children’s behaviors, its effectiveness on cognitive functions, physical activity (PA) levels and other health variables remains unclear
In Spain, several studies have shown that the prevalence of overweight/obesity is around 21% in children aged 4 to 6 years old [5, 6], which is similar to that reported in other regions of the world [7]
Physical Education classes and recesses have traditionnally been the periods of time in the school day in which students could accumulate PA, but nowadays, taking into account the decrease in the PA levels of students, and the rates of overweight and obesity, it seems necessary to explore new alternatives to increase PA time during the school day
Summary
A three-arm cluster-randomized controlled trial (RCT) was carried out including eight schools (rural and urban areas) from Cuenca province, Spain. The schools were allocated to one of three groups: MOVI-da10-Enriched! Intervention, (n = 2), and the control group (n = 3). Around 900 children aged 4 to 6 years old were assesed at baseline (September 2017) and at the end (June 2018) of the intervention. During a school year (from October 2017 to May 2018), children belonging to the MOVI-da10-Enriched! Group performed enriched PA integrated into the academic curriculum including two active breaks lasting 10 min, 5 days/ week. Group performed PA breaks (with low cognitive demand, where curricular contents were not reinforced) including two active breaks lasting 10 min, 5 days/week.
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