29th Apr 2024

Introduction:
The influence of 24-hour movement behaviours (physical activity (PA), sedentary behaviour (SB), and sleep) on health is well-established. However, compliance with WHO guidelines for 24-hour movement behaviours among preschoolers remains low. Given the significant influence of parents on children’s health behaviours, an evidence- and theory-based intervention was developed in collaboration with parents to optimize preschoolers movement behaviours. This study aims to investigate the effect of a co-created intervention to optimize 24-hour movement behaviours in preschoolers.
Methods:
Dyads of parents and their preschool child (2.5-5 years old) were recruited from Flemish preschools and were assigned to an intervention or a control group. Seven consecutive days of preschoolers’ movement behaviours were measured using ActiGraph wGT3X+ accelerometers and processed with the GGIR package in R. A socio-demographic questionnaire was completed by the parent. Baseline measurements were completed between December 2023 and February 2024 for both groups. The intervention, consisting of seven sessions for parents and preschoolers, is taking place between the end of February to mid-May 2024. Post-intervention data collection is scheduled from mid-May to June 2024. Compositional linear mixed models will be employed in R, with significance set at p<0.05, to assess intervention effects.
Results:
In total, 40 preschoolers in the intervention group and 90 preschoolers in the control group are participating. Preliminary data show no differences between the intervention and control group with averages of respectively 524.43 (SD=71.91) and 503.50 (SD=113.05) minutes of PA/day (p=0.389), 172.14 (SD=57.63) and 173.40 (SD=53.22) minutes of SB/day (p=0.752), and 626.79 (SD=44.57) and 617.90 (SD=46.62)minutes of sleep/day (p=0. 0.857). Linear mixed models will investigate intervention effects and whether the intervention contributes to a more favourable 24-hour composition, characterized by increased PA, reduced SB, and sufficient sleep.
Conclusions:
The findings of this study will give insight in the efficacy of a co-created intervention in optimizing 24-hour movement behaviours in preschoolers. The results will be presented at the SSHB 2024 symposium and might provide guidance for promoting healthier movement behaviours in preschoolers.