Influence of the day care, home and neighbourhood environment on young children's physical activity and health: protocol for the PLAYCE observational study

Abstract

IntroductionThe early years are a critical period in a child's health and development, yet most preschool children fail to meet physical activity guidelines. Outside of the home and neighbourhood, children spend a large proportion of time within early childhood education and care (ECEC) services such as long day care. Research is required to determine how the design of day care outdoor (and indoor) spaces provides opportunities or constraints for physical activity. A significant evidence gap surrounds what objectively measured attributes of the home and neighbourhood environment influence preschoolers’ physical activity. The PLAY Spaces & Environments for Children's Physical Activity (PLAYCE) study will empirically investigate the relative and cumulative influence of the day care, home and neighbourhood environment on preschoolers’ physical activity.Methods and analysisThe PLAYCE study is a cross-sectional observational study (April 2015 to April 2018) of 2400 children aged 2–5 years attending long day care in metropolitan Perth, Western Australia. Accelerometers will measure physical activity with indoor physical activity measured using radio frequency identification. Global positioning systems will be used to determine outdoor location of physical activity around the home and neighbourhood for a subsample (n=310). The day care environment will be objectively measured using a validated audit tool. Other potential individual, social and physical environmental influences on preschoolers’ physical activity will be collected by geographic information systems measures, parent and day care educator surveys.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval has been granted by The University of Western Australia Human Ethics Research Committee, approval number RA/4/1/7417. Findings will be published in international peer-reviewed journals and presented at international conferences. Key findings will be disseminated to stakeholders, collaborators, policymakers and practitioners working in the ECEC sector. Day care centre directors and parents will be given a summary report of the key findings.

Nature Play and Fundamental Movement Skills Training Programs Improve Childcare Educator Supportive Physical Activity Behavior

“…It was a cross-sectional observational study which collected data from 1596 preschool children aged 2-5 years from 104 early ECEC centers in metropolitan Perth, Western Australia. The protocol for the PLAYCE study has been published [20]. The current study aimed to pilot test the feasibility and impact of two physical activity professional development programs for ECEC educators.…”

“…All participating ECEC centers signed up to either of the professional development programs voluntarily. Centers were eligible to take part if they had their baseline data collected in the last three months as part of the larger PLAYCE study [20]. Once a center had signed up to one of the professional development programs, all ECEC educators working at that center were asked to complete the program.…”

The Influence of the Early Childhood Education and Care Environment on Young Children’s Physical Activity: Development and Reliability of the PLAYCE Study Environmental Audit and Educator Survey

“…Potential individual, social and physical environmental influences on children's physical activity at the ECEC, home and neighborhood level, were collected using a parent survey and geographic information systems measures, in addition to the instruments described in this manuscript. The study methodology has been published previously [28].…”

“…Established items with good validity and reliability in international contexts were chosen where possible and adapted to suit the Australian ECEC environment if necessary. New items were drafted in consultation with the research team [28]. Each instrument was pilot tested by six people in three ECEC centres.…”

“…While US and northern European studies show associations between EPAO sub-scales and physical activity [19,25], recent studies in the UK and Australia found no relationship [26,27], raising concerns about applicability across different ECEC environments. Furthermore, aspects of the natural environment, the availability of electronic media, and other features of the indoor and outdoor space, may all potentially influence physical activity for children in ECEC [28]. Measurement of these aspects of the environment may be better addressed in instruments that assess ECEC environments for physical activity.…”