TY - JOUR
T1 - A natural experiment of state-level physical activity and screen-time policy changes early childhood education (ECE) centers and child physical activity
AU - Kracht, Chelsea L.
AU - Webster, E. Kipling
AU - Staiano, Amanda E.
N1 - Funding Information:
The “Pause & Play” project was supported by Award Number U54MD008602 for the Gulf States Collaborative Center for Health Policy Research (Gulf States-HPC) from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and by a gift from the American Council on Exercise. CLK was supported by 2T32DK064584-16A1 from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the NIH. AES was supported in part by 1 U54 GM104940 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the NIH, which funds the Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Center. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s).
PY - 2020/3/24
Y1 - 2020/3/24
N2 - Background: Early childhood education (ECE) centers are an important place for preschool-aged children to obtain physical activity (PA). A U.S. state government (Louisiana) recently updated requirements for licensed centers' PA and screen-time policies, which allowed for assessment of 1) ECE center practices, environment, staff behaviors, and policies changes on child-level PA and 2) state level changes on the ECE center. Methods: ECE centers were assessed at the beginning of state licensing changes and 1-year later. The ECE centers were assessed via the Environmental Policy Assessment and Observation (EPAO) tool. The EPAO Sedentary Opportunities score, which primarily assesses television viewing time, was revised to reflect viewing non-television devices (e.g. tablets). Child-level PA was measured using accelerometry. For Aim 1, mixed models assessed ECE center changes and child PA with adjustment for demographic characteristics (fixed effects), baseline EPAO score (random effects), and clustering for center. For Aim 2, paired t-tests assessed ECE center environment differences between baseline and follow-up. Results: Nine ECE centers participated and 49 preschoolers provided complete measures at both time points. For Aim 1, increases in the EPAO revised-Sedentary Opportunities score (as in less non-television screen-time) resulted in increased child PA (p = 0.02). For Aim 2, ECE centers improved their EPAO Active Opportunities and Staff Behaviors score (p = 0.04 and p = 0.02 respectively). Conclusions: ECE centers improved their environment after 1-year, resulting in additional child PA. Changes in ECE centers environment, possibly through policy, can positively influence children's PA.
AB - Background: Early childhood education (ECE) centers are an important place for preschool-aged children to obtain physical activity (PA). A U.S. state government (Louisiana) recently updated requirements for licensed centers' PA and screen-time policies, which allowed for assessment of 1) ECE center practices, environment, staff behaviors, and policies changes on child-level PA and 2) state level changes on the ECE center. Methods: ECE centers were assessed at the beginning of state licensing changes and 1-year later. The ECE centers were assessed via the Environmental Policy Assessment and Observation (EPAO) tool. The EPAO Sedentary Opportunities score, which primarily assesses television viewing time, was revised to reflect viewing non-television devices (e.g. tablets). Child-level PA was measured using accelerometry. For Aim 1, mixed models assessed ECE center changes and child PA with adjustment for demographic characteristics (fixed effects), baseline EPAO score (random effects), and clustering for center. For Aim 2, paired t-tests assessed ECE center environment differences between baseline and follow-up. Results: Nine ECE centers participated and 49 preschoolers provided complete measures at both time points. For Aim 1, increases in the EPAO revised-Sedentary Opportunities score (as in less non-television screen-time) resulted in increased child PA (p = 0.02). For Aim 2, ECE centers improved their EPAO Active Opportunities and Staff Behaviors score (p = 0.04 and p = 0.02 respectively). Conclusions: ECE centers improved their environment after 1-year, resulting in additional child PA. Changes in ECE centers environment, possibly through policy, can positively influence children's PA.
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U2 - 10.1186/s12889-020-08533-8
DO - 10.1186/s12889-020-08533-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 32209069
AN - SCOPUS:85082380596
SN - 1471-2458
VL - 20
JO - BMC public health
JF - BMC public health
IS - 1
M1 - 387
ER -