A Movement and Music Programme in Early Childhood Education and Care (The MoviMusi Study Protocol) (MOVIMUSI)

University of Valencia

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Physical Activity; Fundamental Motor Skills; Music Intervention

Treatments: Behavioral: A multi-component, multi-level programme (MoviMusi)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06381687

PID2022-141095NB-I00 (Other Grant/Funding Number)

2023-3118978

Details and patient eligibility

About

The early childhood education and care (ECEC) environment is an important setting for providing children with daily opportunities for movement and music, supporting holistic child development in the early years. To date, there are no studies evaluating the implementation of a holistic programme in the ECEC context in the areas of movement behaviour, motor, and musical skills. The main aim is to examine the impact over time of a holistic movement and music programme on correlates of movement behaviour, gross and fine motor skills, and musical skills in young children (1-3 years). The secondary aims are to examine the impact of the movement and music programme on the perceptions of the educational community, as well as the barriers and facilitators they perceive in the process of baseline assessment, construction, and implementation of the movement and music programme in their own ECEC community. This cluster-randomised controlled trial (intervention and control groups) with public ECEC centres will be performed over a 24-month period. Baseline measurements will be taken in the first year of the project, and the longitudinal evaluation of the implementation of the movement and music programme in the second year. educational community's perceptions about the barriers and facilitators associated with the correlates of movement behaviour will be taken into account, as will the results of the assessment of gross and fine motor and musical skills identified in the first year of the project, with a special focus on the structured and unstructured opportunities for movement and music both in the ECEC settings and at home. This research project aims to fill a knowledge gap during a period of childhood that has rarely been explored, either nationally or internationally (1-3 years), and to position movement and music teaching practices as key contexts in the curriculum development of infant and toddler education.

Full description

ECEC settings are important determinants of children´s behaviour. Ecological models help to contextualise and explain how the different environments in which children interact on a daily basis (school, home, and peer relations) have the capacity to influence childrens development. To date, there are no studies evaluating the implementation of a holistic programme in the ECEC context in the areas of movement behaviour, motor, and musical skills. A pending line of research is the identification of the key correlates of changes in movement behaviour throughout the early years, which would generate knowledge crucial to developing policy interventions that promote general wellbeing in young children. Thus, this study focuses on the importance of home and ECEC settings in the development of movement behaviour through a critical analysis of how curricular practices can be more effective in influencing childrens holistic development.

Aims The main aim is to examine the impact over time of a holistic movement and music programme on correlates of movement behaviour, gross and fine motor skills, and musical skills in young children (1-3 years). The secondary aims are to examine the impact of the movement and music programme on the perceptions of the educational community, as well as the barriers and facilitators they perceive in the process of baseline assessment, construction, and implementation of the movement and music programme in their own ECEC community.

Hypotheses The research set out to test the following hypotheses: 1. Girls and boys (1-2 years) will perform the same amount of PA during the school day. 2. The implementation of a music and movement intervention programme will increase children´s PA during the school day. 3. The music and movement intervention programme will have an impact on higher levels of childrens GMS as well as a variety of musical processes in the intervention group. 4. The ECEC community will be actively involved in the co-creation process of the movement and music intervention programme.

Enrollment: 312 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 14 to 22 months old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Young children aged 14 to 22 months.
• Regularly attending the Early Childhood Education and Care centre.
• Parents giving informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

• Young children not attending more than two days to centre.
• Young children attending only half part of the day.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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312 participants in 2 patient groups

Experimental intervention: characteristics of the movement and music programme

Experimental group

Description:

A multi-component, multi-level programme (MoviMusi) will be designed and implemented in each city by the 12 ECEC centres in the intervention group. The intervention programme will start after baseline measurements and it will be implemented during 12 months. Accompanied by members of the intervention team, the educational community will be empowered to identify areas for improvement and make the necessary changes in their centres. In addition, the intervention programme will aim to address the main barriers and facilitators identified during the first year (baseline assessment) in relation to movement and music curricular practices.

Treatment:

Behavioral: A multi-component, multi-level programme (MoviMusi)

Control group

No Intervention group

Description:

In the three cities, 12 ECEC institutions will participate in the control group. The centres will follow their usual curricular programme and will be visited to identify the curricular movement and music practices they are implementing, to assess the quality of the school environment and to measure PA, gross and fine motor skills, and music skills at baseline and at the end of the study.