Study of Preschoolers' Outdoor Time and Physical Activity at Child Care (SPrOuT)

描述（由申请人提供）：体育活动降低儿童肥胖的风险，与健康和福祉相关的许多益处独立相关，并且从学龄前到青春期都有追踪。学龄前儿童花在户外的时间被认为与他们的身体活动水平有关。然而，今天大多数美国孩子在户外玩耍的时间可能比前几代人要少。对儿童户外玩耍时间的研究，不仅是为了让孩子们重拾更少数字化、更松散的童年，而且还与严重的公共健康问题有关。鼓励积极的户外游戏可能被证明是促进儿童全面发展和健康的重要方法。由于大多数美国学龄前儿童在儿童保育项目上花费了相当多的时间，因此研究和追求在这些环境中增加户外体育活动的策略至关重要。通过儿童保育环境，我们可能能够改变大量儿童的行为，特别是使那些没有机会在户外玩耍和在家进行体育活动的弱势儿童受益。研究体育活动和户外游戏如何促进学习和发展，可能会为幼儿专业人员、家长和政策制定者促进这些活动提供额外的激励。对户外时间与各种结果之间的准确关系的理解目前因测量不当而受到阻碍。对户外时间的有力测量和对儿童更活跃的环境的理解将为进一步的研究和干预提供信息。本提案的总体研究目标是表征学龄前儿童的户外体育活动，并了解户外体育活动的环境和社会决定因素，以便为干预措施的制定提供信息。具体来说，目标1是验证光传感器和GPS单元对直接观测的准确测量。目的2是准确量化学龄前儿童的户外托儿时间及其与加速度计测量的身体活动和各种可改变的托儿环境特征的关系。目标3侧重于在儿童保育方案中制定和试行一项干预措施，以提高户外时间的质量和数量，并研究由此对身体活动、健康和发展结果产生的影响。该研究计划是K23提案的一部分，旨在为Tandon博士提供必要的学术培训、指导和支持，以获得开展儿童户外体育活动研究所需的技能和经验，然后开发并将有效的干预措施转化为实践、项目和政策。坦登博士是一名儿科医生，他的职业目标是成为一名独立调查员，专注于促进儿童的身体活动，以解决与久坐、室内生活方式相关的关键健康问题。为了实现这一目标，她将从事以下方面的培训：1)体力活动和户外时间的测量；2)建筑环境与体力活动的关系；3)将认知结果纳入体力活动研究；4)开发和测试基于社区的干预措施。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Physical activity lowers the risk of obesity in children, is independently associated with numerous benefits related to health and well-being, and tracks from preschool-age to adolescence. The amount of time preschoolers spend outdoors is thought to correlate with their physical activity levels. Yet, most US children today likely spend less time playing outdoors than previous generations. The study of children's outdoor play time is not merely about resurrecting less digital, more unstructured childhoods, but is related to serious public health issues. Encouraging active outdoor play may prove to be an important method of enhancing children's overall development and health. Since the majority of US preschool-age children spend considerable time in child care programs, examining and pursuing strategies to increase outdoor physical activity in these settings is critical. Through child care settings, we may be able to change behaviors in large groups of children and particularly benefit more vulnerable children who have fewer opportunities for outdoor play and physical activity at home. Studying how physical activity and outdoor play enhance learning and development may provide additional incentives for early childhood professionals, parents and policy makers to promote these activities. An understanding of the accurate relationship between outdoor time and various outcomes is currently hampered by poor measurement. Robust measurement of outdoor time and an understanding of the context within which children are more active would inform further research and intervention. The overall research goal of this proposal is to characterize outdoor physical activity for preschoolers at child care and to understand environmental and social determinants of outdoor physical activity in order to inform intervention development. Specifically, Aim 1 is to validate light sensors and GPS units against direct observation as accurate measures of outdoor time. Aim 2 is to accurately quantify preschoolers' outdoor time at child care and its relationship to accelerometer-measured physical activity and various modifiable child care environment characteristics. Aim 3 focuses on developing and piloting an intervention in child care programs to increase the quality and quantity of outdoor time and studying the resulting impact on physical activity, health and development outcomes. This research plan is part of a K23 proposal designed to provide the scholarly training, mentorship and support necessary for Dr. Tandon to gain skills and experience needed to conduct research on children's outdoor physical activity to then develop and translate effective interventions into practices, programs and policies. Dr. Tandon is a pediatrician whose career goal is to become an independent investigator with a focus on promoting physical activity in children to address the critical health problems associated with sedentary, indoor lifestyles. To achieve this objective, she will pursue training in: 1) the measurement of physical activity and outdoor time, 2) the relationship of the built environment to physical activity, 3) incorporating cognitive outcomes into physical activity research and 4) developing and testing community-based interventions. .