Impact of cocreation training capsules for preschool teachers on children’s healthy habits: a pilot study conducted in Barcelona, Spain

Abstract

Background Healthy habits are essential for preschoolers to have a healthy lifestyle. The promotion of these healthy habits from a holistic approach by preschool teachers guarantees a better quality of life and a healthier society. Using cocreation, we designed training for healthy habit promotion for preschool teachers (all@once). Then, we implemented the training and evaluated its impact on classroom teaching strategies. Methods This study presents the all@once training design and its implementation and evaluation during 2019. The cocreation process involved 8 parents, 9 preschool teachers and 9 health professionals (selected by a nonprobabilistic sampling system according to quotas) to design training from a holistic perspective. To evaluate the all@once impact in classroom practice, a pilot study was undertaken in four public schools in Barcelona (Spain). All@once was implemented with 16 volunteer teachers selected by convenience sampling and 328 children. A mixed methods approach was chosen to collect data based on direct nonparticipating naturalist systematic observations in June and October 2019. After qualitative data categorization, changes in health routines and actions at school were assessed by either contingency table analysis of frequency distributions or nonparametric comparisons of two related samples. Results The cocreation process provided training organized into online capsules with a holistic view of health in four main dimensions (nutrition, hygiene, physical activity and emotional health). Of these dimensions, the emotional health dimension comprised half of the training content. Pilot testing of the impact of all@once on classroom health-related activities evidenced an increase in the likelihood of observing fruit consumption by children, healthy habit promotion and hand washing. The most significant all@once-induced changes that we observed were related to teaching strategies concerning the emotional health dimension of the training. Conclusions This pilot study provides evidence of cocreation being a productive way to design training for preschool teachers regarding inclusive education in integral health. This approach collects the needs of the school community, provides training with a holistic concept of health and effectively impacts classroom routines and family health habits in the short term.

Vegetative regulation of vascular tone and features of the nervous system of pedagogical universities students. Is there a relationship with professional specialization?

“…For this, it is necessary to develop such means and methods of physical education that would correspond to their individual psychophysiological characteristics [5]. The types of physical activity that are suitable for the student in terms of the characteristics of his nervous system will more quickly cause positive emotions when they are performed compared to those exercises that do not correspond to the individual characteristics of higher nervous activity [6][7][8][9]. And, if the type of physical activity suits a person, he will do it on his own.…”

“…Each pedagogical specialty has its own characteristics [5]. Thus, a primary school teacher, just like teachers of preschool education, is a special category of teachers [6,7]. Their profession is distinguished by the need to possess a wide arsenal of knowledge from various fields.…”

“…Their profession is distinguished by the need to possess a wide arsenal of knowledge from various fields. These specialists must have extensive knowledge of the psychology of children of preschool and primary school age, as well as communication skills with children of this age group [5,7,8]. This category of children is characterized by the predominance of imaginative thinking over logical thinking, a reduced level of inhibition processes, and a lower level of self-control ability [8,9].…”

Preschool teachers display a flexible pattern of pedagogical actions in promoting healthy habits in children

“…Early childhood represents a critical period for intervention because healthy lifestyle habits are developed during this period ( Goldfield et al, 2012 ). The school represents the optimal setting to promote physical, emotional, and social health, especially during the first years of life ( Violant-Holz et al, 2021 ). Consequently, teachers and all the stakeholders involved in education have been requested to systematically consider how educational approaches could increase the healthy behaviors of children ( Pulimeno et al, 2020 ), understanding them as daily healthy routines.…”

“…As a consequence, some studies encourage preschool teachers to foster healthy habits within children, such as promoting mental health ( Haraldsson et al, 2017 ; Blewitt et al, 2020 ), invigorating healthier nutrition and feeding ( Whiteside-Mansell and Swindle, 2019 ), animating physical activity ( Tyler et al, 2020 ), inciting hygiene ( Bonnesen et al, 2015 ), or reassuring emotional health ( Ocasio et al, 2015 ). Recent research encourages preschool teachers to integrate all those health dimensions in their educational approach in classrooms ( Violant-Holz et al, 2021 ), following the emerging concept of health education ( Gavidia, 2016 ). This means understanding education, and therefore also health education, as a complex phenomenon ( Morin et al, 2002 ), integrating physical, mental, and social health with the frailty concept ( Boers and Cruz Jentoft, 2015 ).…”