Parent perceived barriers and facilitators of children’s adventurous play in Britain: a framework analysis

Abstract

Background From a public health perspective there is growing interest in children’s play, including play involving risk and adventure, in relation to children’s physical and mental health. Regarding mental health, it is theorised that adventurous play, where children experience thrilling, exciting emotions, offers important learning opportunities that prepare children for dealing with uncertainty and help prevent anxiety. Despite these benefits, adventurous play has decreased substantially within a generation. Parents have a key role in facilitating or limiting children’s opportunities for adventurous play, but research identifying the barriers and facilitators parents perceive in relation to adventurous play is scarce. The present study therefore examined the barriers to and facilitators of adventurous play as perceived by parents of school-aged children in Britain. Methods This study analysed data from a subsample of parents in Britain (n = 377) who participated in the nationally representative British Children’s Play Survey. Parents responded to two open-ended questions pertaining to the barriers to and facilitators of children’s adventurous play. Responses were analysed using a qualitative Framework Analysis, an approach suitable for managing large datasets with specific research questions. Results Four framework categories were identified: Social Environment; Physical Environment; Risk of Injury; Child Factors. Social Environment included barriers and facilitators related to parents, family and peers, as well as community and society. Dominant themes within the Social Environment related to perceptions about the certainty of child safety, such as supervision and the safety of society. Beliefs about the benefits of adventurous play for development and well-being were also important in the Social Environment. Physical Environment factors focused on safety and practical issues. Risk of Injury captured concerns about children being injured during play. Child Factors included child attributes, such as play preference, developmental ability and trait-like characteristics. Conclusions Improved understanding of what influences parent perceptions of adventurous play can inform public health interventions designed to improve children’s opportunities for and engagement in adventurous play, with a view to promote children’s physical and mental health.

Adventurous play in schools: The parent perspective

“…For other parents, adventurous play required that supervisors have expertise or training, and for some, adventurous play was described as requiring higher pupil–staff ratios and smaller groups of pupils. Our findings are consistent with other work with British parents, which found that lack of adequate or direct supervision was considered by parents to be a barrier to children's engagement in adventurous play (Oliver et al, 2022). It seems likely therefore that whilst parents might have relatively positive attitudes to adventurous play, if they perceive certain conditions have not been met then their support might be lessened.…”

“…Outside school, the amount of time children spend playing in an adventurous way is associated with parents' attitudes and beliefs about risk during play (Dodd et al, 2021), and children's access to activities is dependent on the risk perception of the adults around them (Niehues et al, 2015). Recent findings from the British Children's Play Survey highlighted that the social and physical environment, risk of injury and child factors all affected parents' decisions regarding adventurous play for their child outside school (Oliver et al, 2022, 2023). Cited barriers for children's opportunities included busy roads, perceived neighbourhood safety, lack of time and lack of accessibility of adventurous play spaces.…”

“…adventurous play, parents, risky play, schools and physical environment, risk of injury and child factors all affected parents' decisions regarding adventurous play for their child outside school (Oliver et al, 2022(Oliver et al, , 2023. Cited barriers for children's opportunities included busy roads, perceived neighbourhood safety, lack of time and lack of accessibility of adventurous play spaces.…”

Geographical Disparity in Cardiorespiratory Fitness among 3,189,540 Japanese Children and Adolescents before and during the Coronavirus 2019 Pandemic: An Ecological Study

“…Given that only the exercise time, not PA, was self-reported in the JP Fit Survey for Youth, and that active play is a major source of PA opportunities for Japanese elementary school children [ 30 ], it is possible that the time spent in active play among Japanese elementary school children declined during the pandemic. Since children’s active play is known to be influenced by their surrounding environments [ 31 , 32 ], it is possible that the pandemic-related restrictions may have impacted the quantity and intensity of active play, resulting in a decline in CRF among elementary school students. These differences in the PA patterns between elementary and junior high school students may explain the different associations according to age group.…”

Exploring Guardians’ Perceptions towards Edutainment Environments: The Case of Kidzania, Cairo, Egypt

“…Moreover, according to Ferré et al [31], while parents focus on their children's safety and opportunities of learning new skills, designers are believed to mainly care about design and image. On the other hand, children desire adventurous and risky play, which provokes feelings of challenge, excitement, pride, enjoyment, and achievement [32,33].…”