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

描述（由申请人提供）：体育活动降低了儿童肥胖的风险，与健康和幸福相关的许多益处独立相关，并从学龄前到青春期跟踪。学龄前儿童在户外度过的时间被认为与他们的身体活动水平有关。然而，今天的大多数美国儿童在户外玩耍的时间可能比前几代人少。对儿童户外玩耍时间的研究不仅仅是为了恢复数字化程度较低、结构更松散的童年，而是与严重的公共卫生问题有关。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计划中花费了相当多的时间，因此在这些环境中检查和寻求增加户外体育活动的策略至关重要。通过儿童保育机构，我们可以改变大量儿童的行为，特别是那些在户外玩耍和在家进行体育活动的机会较少的弱势儿童。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，父母和政策制定者提供额外的激励措施，以促进这些活动。 目前，对户外时间与各种结果之间的准确关系的理解受到测量不良的阻碍。对户外时间的可靠测量和对儿童更活跃的背景的理解将为进一步的研究和干预提供信息。该提案的总体研究目标是描述幼儿园学龄前儿童户外体育活动的特征，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。具体而言，目标1是验证光传感器和GPS装置是否能准确测量户外时间。目的2是准确地量化学龄前儿童在儿童保育的户外时间及其与加速度计测量的身体活动和各种可修改的儿童保育环境特征的关系。目标3的重点是制定和试点儿童保育计划的干预措施，以增加户外时间的质量和数量，并研究对身体活动，健康和发展成果的影响。 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，以获得对儿童户外体育活动进行研究所需的技能和经验，然后制定并将有效的干预措施转化为实践，计划和政策。Tandon博士是一名儿科医生，其职业目标是成为一名独立的研究人员，专注于促进儿童的身体活动，以解决与久坐不动，室内生活方式相关的关键健康问题。为了实现这一目标，她将继续培训：1）身体活动和户外时间的测量，2）建筑环境与身体活动的关系，3）将认知结果纳入身体活动研究和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. .