The Effects and Types of Parental Involvement in School-Based Sport and Health Programs Still Represent a Knowledge Gap: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: Health-related behaviours and attitudes acquired in childhood significantly shape health behaviours in adulthood and play an important role in preventing children from becoming overweight. Interventions incorporating parental involvement can provide outstanding support in shaping a child’s health-related behaviour. However, parental involvement has not been investigated from the perspective of efficacy except for obesity. Therefore, this systematic review investigates school-based physical activity intervention programmes incorporating parental involvement. We aim to explore the impact of these programmes and the parental involvement they provide on behaviours that influence child health, which are essential for preventing children and adults from becoming overweight and promoting health-conscious lifestyles. Methods: This systematic literature review follows PRISMA guidelines. The EBSCO Discovery Service Search Engine was used for searching for literature. Papers included met the following inclusion criteria: (1) reported original, empirical research or systematic review published in a peer-reviewed journal; (2) primary or secondary school age (6–18 years) as the target population; (3) examined school-based sport or health prevention and intervention programs; (4) only healthy children and youth in the indicated age group; (5) school-based prevention or intervention program; (6) examines parental involvement; (7) in the English language, and (8) in disciplines of education, psychology, social work, sociology, social sciences and humanities. Results: An extremely limited number of interventions of sufficient quality address the role of parental involvement (N = 17). The forms of parental involvement show a huge variety, ranging from leaflets, home packs, sports organisations “forced” by the pandemic, parent meetings, programmes, courses, and school programmes with diverse children over several months (cooking together, gardening, playing sports together, etc.). Therefore, it is difficult to measure their effectiveness and impact. Conclusions: The impact of parental involvement on children’s health behaviour, especially physical activity and nutrition, as two of the most important factors in preventing them from becoming overweight, are unclear, and other correlations, e.g., academic achievement, are scarce.

The role of parental involvement in academic and sports achievement

“…The relevance of our research is supported by the fact that several studies have already examined the form and extent of parental involvement in, and the impact of parental’ social background on, children’s academic achievement [ 11 , 2 , 6 , 7 , 12 ]. Studies have also been carried out regarding the involvement of parents in and the impact of targeted programmes on students' physical activity, nutrition, and body mass index [ 13 ].…”

“…Studies have also been carried out regarding the involvement of parents in and the impact of targeted programmes on students' physical activity, nutrition, and body mass index [ 13 ]. However, in our previous systematic review, we did not find any research that examined the impact of parental involvement in school sports on students' academic achievement [ 11 ]. Thus, in our current study, we investigate the differences, in social and sporting background, academic and sporting achievement, passion for sport and vision for the future, between children of parents who are and are not involved in sports and education.…”

Correction: Kovács et al. The Effects and Types of Parental Involvement in School-Based Sport and Health Programs Still Represent a Knowledge Gap: A Systematic Review. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 12859

“…In the original article [ 1 ], there was an error regarding the affiliation for Ádám József Oláh . In his case, his affiliation No.…”

“…The authors would like to make corrections to the reference citations in the original article [ 1 ]. The order of some reference citations has been adjusted correspondingly.…”

Efficacy of physical activity shared between parents and children to improve sports initiation in the M.A.M.I.deporte® program

“…Deporte programme of shared PA between children and parents over three school years successfully promotes children's sport practice, maintains their activity and improves long-term adherence. Parents are considered to play a key role in children's adherence to physical activity and it is important to promote PA in the family for the improvement of children's PA ( 27 , 28 , 29 ) as demonstrated by some family-based physical activity promotion programmes ( 30 ) although there is little evidence of the effectiveness of family engagement methods in children's PA promotion programmes, due to heterogeneity in study design, study quality and outcome measures used ( 31 ) and so there appears to be a need to study models of joint family intervention that are more predictive of children's physical activity. Against this background, the hypothesis of our work is that joint parent-child participation in the MAMI Deporte programme maintains PA in the long term and encourages children to participate in other vigorous sporting activities.…”