- Title
- Scheduling frequent opportunities for outdoor free-play – a simple approach to increasing physical activity in childcare
- Creator
- Abdul Razak, Lubna
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2020
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- To address the commonly reported barriers of reliance on educators’ resources and skills, this thesis sought to investigate the potential of simple environmental interventions in increasing moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in childcare. Specifically, it aimed to: Describe the implementation of current recommended practices and policies encouraging physical activity in Australian childcare services.; Assess the efficacy of modifying the scheduling of outdoor free-play periods on the MVPA of attending children aged 3 to 6 years.; Systematically review the factors affecting the implementation of environmental recommendations to increase children’s activity in childcare; and Provide recommendations for future research and practice arising from this thesis. The initial cross-sectional study of 309 childcare services reported variable implementation of evidence based physical activity policies and practices but no implementation differences when examined by operational characteristics (service type, size, geographical locality and socioeconomic status). A cluster randomised controlled trial (cRCT) with 10 services (n= 316) found that a simple scheduling intervention, dividing one continuous outdoor free-play period into three periods, without a change in total duration from baseline, increased the child average daily MVPA in the intervention services compared to controls with an adjusted difference between groups of 5.21 minutes (95% CI 0.59-9.83, p=0.03). A second cRCT involving 6 services (n= 231) studied the effect of providing unrestricted access to outdoor areas when no structured programs were taking place, did not significantly improve child MVPA. Analysis of trial outcomes in both RCTs utilised Generalised Linear Mixed Models; accounting for clustering and repeated measures. A systematic review via a theoretical framework identified that factors influencing the implementation of environmental physical activity recommendations largely belonged to environmental, resource and social domains. This thesis provides further support for the significant potential of ecological interventions in childcare settings for increasing attending children’s MVPA While broadly supportive, further research is required prior to significant government investment in the implementation of greater outdoor free-play opportunities in childcare. These opportunities are described in the thesis and include larger RCTs, with longer term follow-up to confirm the effectiveness of these interventions; formative evaluation to better understand barriers to facilitate the development of implementation strategies, and the conduct of trials of large- scale implementation approaches.
- Subject
- physical activity; child; childcare environment; scheduling; preschool; thesis by publication
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1411906
- Identifier
- uon:36399
- Rights
- Copyright 2020 Lubna Abdul Razak
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 5 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 530 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |