“Oh oobe doo, I wanna be like you” associations between physical activity of preschool staff and preschool children

Abstract

ObjectivePhysical activity contributes to prevent serious diseases and ailments, and previous research indicates that lifestyle habits are likely to track from early childhood to adulthood. 90% of Norwegian children aged 1–5 are enrolled in preschools, and preschool staff can play an important role in children’s activity levels. This study’s aim was to identify whether any associations exist between preschool staff’s characteristics (initiative, participation, attitudes, and activity levels) and children’s activity in preschool.Method289 children aged 4–6 and 72 preschool staff from 13 randomly selected preschools in a region of Nord-Troendelag, Norway, were enrolled in the study. All participants wore an Actigraph accelerometer for seven consecutive days. Questionnaires were also utilized to identify correlates between preschool staff’s attitudes and initiative in relation to children’s physical activity, in addition to their participation in children’s physical activity. A multilevel analysis, the linear mixed model (LMM), was used to elucidate associations between preschool staff and children’s activity levels.ResultsA significant association was found between preschool staff’s average activity levels during preschool hours and children’s corresponding activity levels during preschool hours (t = 2.57; p = 0.021; f2 = 0.013). There were, however, no significant associations identified between the attitudes (t = –0.44; p = 0.67), initiative (t = –0.14; p = 0.89), and participation (t = 0.66; p = 0.52) variables among preschool staff and children’s activity levels during preschool hours.ConclusionThe study demonstrated that a significant association exists between preschool staff’s aggregated activity levels and 4–6-year-olds’ individual activity levels. However, an observational study is requisite in order to determine whether the association is based on preschool staff’s impact on children’s physical activity or if it is the children that affect the preschool staff’s activity levels, or a combination thereof.

The views, collective awareness and staff practices in promoting physical activity in preschools: an analysis of two preschools in Norway with high and low levels of physical activity

“…The study also showed that the physical activity levels of the children and the staff were positively correlated, as the staff's physical activity level was also measured with an accelerometer. On the other hand, there was no correlation found using the measuring methods applied in the analysis of responses to questionnaires relating to individual staff attitudes, initiatives and participation and the physical activity level of the children (Fossdal et al 2018). This is in contrast to other studies, which show that positive encouragement and involvement by preschool staff is associated with higher activity levels in children (Brown et al 2009;Gubbels et al 2011;Mikkelsen 2011).…”

Preschool environment and preschool teacher’s physical activity and their association with children’s activity levels at preschool

“…However, most previous research on the topic are based on qualitative approaches. Thus far, only one Norwegian study has explored accelerometer assessed associations between preschool teachers' and children's levels of MVPA during preschool hours [44]. This study demonstrated that there was a statistically significant association between preschool teacher's aggregated levels of MVPA and preschool children's individual levels of MVPA.…”

“…However, there is a lack of studies among the preschool population. Only one Norwegian study has used objectively measured PA in both preschool teachers' and children and found a small, but statistically significant association, between preschool teachers' and preschool children's levels of PA during preschool hours [26]. More studies with objective measure on both preschool teachers and children are imperative to confirm the potential association between preschooler's PA and preschool teachers' PA.…”

Preschool group practices and preschool children’s sedentary time: a cross-sectional study in Finland

“…Teacher-led sessions are usually preplanned, with guided participation of children; all the children in a group usually conduct similar activities, allowing less freedom for children’s individual choice of activities 14. However, other studies support teacher-led activities, claiming they increase children’s movement and activity levels compared with free-play sessions 48 54 55. Therefore, essential is determining the most effective type of social influence, adult-initiated or child-initiated, in decreasing children’s ST. For instance, children with particular temperament traits may benefit more from adults’ than peers’ role modelling.…”