Parents on the Concept of Physical Literacy: What Do They Know, What Do They Do, and What Do They Want?

Physical literacy development in early childhood, viewed by many as the foundation for lifelong physical activity engagement, is significantly influenced by parents. Our aim was to explore parents' understanding of physical literacy and gain insight into their perspectives on physical literacy promotion. We recruited 18 parents of children between 5 and 8 years old in Australia. Using semistructured interviews and thematic analysis, we identified several key issues regarding parents' understanding and implementation of physical literacy. Parents expressed interest in improving their implementation of physical literacy practices and had (often unintentionally) provided support for physical literacy subcomponents in the past. However, they described difficulties prioritizing physical literacy above other parental demands and expressed conflicting perceptions regarding where the responsibility should lie for developing their child's physical literacy (e.g., at home or at school). To ensure that the physical literacy "message" reaches parents, we encourage physical literacy promoters to consider the target (e.g., responsibility, priorities, and awareness) of their promotional strategies. Further investigation into the influence of sociocultural and economic factors on parents' understanding and application of physical literacy is warranted.

Early childhood educator outcomes from online professional development for physical literacy: A randomised controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Early childhood is recognised as a critical window of opportunity for physical literacy development, however early childhood educators typically lack the training required to effectively provide appropriate physical literacy opportunities for children. We examined the effects of an online physical literacy professional development program-relative to continuing with 'standard' practice-on early childhood educators' physical literacy knowledge and application. METHODS: We conducted a parallel two-arm randomised controlled trial, in which 88 early childhood educators were randomly assigned to an online professional development program designed to support educators' physical literacy instructional skills (intervention arm; n = 37), or a 'standard practice' control condition (n = 51). Data were collected prior to and after the four-week intervention period. We measured educators' physical literacy knowledge and application (our primary outcome) through independent coding of open-ended survey responses, and educators' self-reported perceptions of values, confidence, behaviours, and barriers (secondary outcomes). Between-group differences were assessed through analysis of covariance. RESULTS: One intervention arm participant withdrew from the study, resulting in 87 participants included in analysis. Educators in the intervention arm scored significantly higher on post-intervention physical literacy knowledge (d = 0.62) and application (d = 0.33) than those in the control arm. Educators in the intervention arm also scored significantly higher than controls on confidence in teaching physical activity (d = 0.42) and significantly lower than controls on perceived personal barriers to physical activity (d = 0.53). Thirteen participants in the intervention arm (36%) did not begin the online professional development program. CONCLUSION: Improvements in physical literacy instructional outcomes indicate the potential for further investigation into broader implementation of online professional development programs of this nature in the future.

New-Generation Active Videogaming Maintains Energy Expenditure in Children Across Repeated Bouts.

OBJECTIVE: Active videogames (AVGs) remain popular among 10-15-year-old children. The Xbox 360 Kinect™ from Microsoft (Redmond, WA) represents a new generation of AVGs where body movements are used to control gameplay. The purpose of this study was to measure energy expenditure required to play repeated bouts of six Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect games ("Motion Sports Adrenaline™," "Sonic Free Riders™," "Virtua Tennis 4™," "Kinect Sports™," "Kinect Adventures™," and "Just Dance 3™"). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Forty-seven children (between 10 and 15 years) participated in a repeated-measures experiment, completing five 1-hour sessions (one familiarization and four separate gaming sessions). Three different AVGs were played for 15 minutes during each gaming session in a counterbalanced order. An Actiheart (CamNtech Ltd., Cambridge, United Kingdom) was used to monitor heart rate and acceleration during gameplay. RESULTS: Average energy expended across the six AVGs during 15 minutes of gameplay was 3.0±0.17 metabolic equivalents/minute, significantly higher than resting energy expenditure (P<0.01). Similar levels of energy expenditure were observed between the first and fourth gaming session for all six games, although the energy expenditure between each game over the four sessions was similar. Boys expended more energy than girls within each AVG and across the four gaming sessions. CONCLUSIONS: The Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect games in this study were found to elicit moderate-intensity exercise over four gaming sessions, with no decay in energy expenditure over several gaming sessions. Although small differences in the energy expenditure between the six Microsoft Xbox Kinect games were found, they are all likely to contribute toward reduced sitting time in children.

Short and long-term adherence to swimming and walking programs in older women--the Sedentary Women Exercise Adherence Trial (SWEAT 2).

OBJECTIVE: To examine in previously sedentary older women the effects of exercise mode and a behavioural intervention on short and long-term retention and adherence. METHODS: Healthy, sedentary women aged 50-70 years (N=116) were randomly assigned to a supervised 6-month swimming or walking program 3 sessions a week. They were further randomised to usual care or a behavioural intervention. The same program was further continued unsupervised for 6 months. We assessed retention, adherence, stage of exercise behaviour and changes in fitness. RESULTS: One hundred women (86%) completed 6 months and 86 (74%) continued for 12 months. Retention rates were similar for both exercise modes at 6 and 12 months. Adherence to swimming or walking was similar after 6 months (76.3 (95% CI: 69.5, 83.1)% vs. 74.3 (67.7, 80.9)%) and 12 months (65.8 (57.9, 73.8)% vs. 62.2 (54.6, 70.0)%). The behavioural intervention did not enhance retention or adherence. Fitness improved for both exercise modes after 6 months and was maintained at 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: Either swimming or walking programs initiated with careful supervision over 6 months resulted in similar high retention and adherence rates by highly motivated older women over 12 months. Behavioural intervention in this setting did not improve these rates further.