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Published on: March 7, 2019
Effectiveness of a Preschool Motor Skill Intervention on Body Mass Index and Movement Behavior: 6-, 18-, and 30-Month
Line Grønholt Olesen1,2, Anders Grøntved1, Jan Christian Brønd1
1Research Unit for Exercise Epidemiology, Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, Centre of Research in Childhood Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense,Denmark.
Insights
A preschool motor skills program did not improve children's body composition or physical activity levels over 2.5 years. The intervention showed no significant impact on key health metrics in early childhood education settings.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Motor Skill Development
- Public Health Interventions
Background:
- Early childhood is a critical period for establishing healthy habits.
- Preschool environments offer opportunities for structured physical activity interventions.
- Previous interventions targeting motor skills have shown mixed results.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate a preschool staff-delivered motor skills intervention.
- To assess the intervention's impact on child body composition and physical activity.
- To track outcomes over a 2.5-year period.
Main Methods:
- Pragmatic parallel cluster randomized controlled trial involving 16 preschools.
- Data collected at 6, 18, and 30 months.
- Accelerometer measures for daily and preschool movement; mixed-linear regression analysis.
Main Results:
- 437 children (90%) provided baseline and follow-up data for body mass index.
- No significant differences found in body mass index or waist-to-height ratio between groups.
- No significant differences observed in preschool or daily physical activity levels.
Conclusions:
- The preschool motor skills intervention demonstrated no significant effect on anthropometry.
- The intervention did not improve children's physical activity levels.
- Findings align with previous research suggesting limited impact of similar programs.
Purpose:
To study the effectiveness of a preschool staff-delivered motor skills intervention on body composition and physical activity over a 2.5-year time frame.
Methods:
In this pragmatic parallel cluster randomized controlled trial (16 preschools), outcome data were collected after 6 (body composition only), 18, and 30 months of intervention. The main physical activity outcomes were accelerometer behavior measures summarizing the total percentage of child daily movement (walk, run, cycle, and standing that included minor movements) and preschool movement during preschool attendance. To estimate between-group mean differences in outcomes, mixed-linear regression analyses including baseline value of the selected outcome and a treatment × time interaction term as a fixed effect were applied. In addition, the baseline preschool and child were included as a random effect.
Results:
For body mass index, a total of 437 children (90%) had at least one valid baseline and one follow-up assessment. The corresponding numbers for preschool movement and daily movement were 163 (55%) and 146 (49%), respectively. No significant between-group mean difference was identified for body mass index, waist-to-height ratio, or any physical activity outcomes.
Conclusion:
Overall, this preschool motor skills intervention had no effect on either child anthropometry or physical activity, consistent with previous studies.
