Active Fundament - Fundamentally Better (AF)

Fontys University of Applied Sciences

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Physical Inactivity in Early Childhood and Care; Early Childhood & Care Physical Activity Behavior; Motor Development in Children Aged 2-6 Years; Physical Activity-Supportive Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Environment; Delayed Fundamental Motor Skill Development

Treatments: Behavioral: Actief Fundament

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07315009

RAAK.PRO05.034 (Other Grant/Funding Number)

FHML-REC/2024/032

Details and patient eligibility

About

The objective of this longitudinal, quasi-experimental study is to improve children's fundamental motor skills and physical activity levels. In addition, the study aims to support pedagogical staff and educators in implementing physical activity during the workday, with the intention of facilitating a more supportive and enjoyable working environment that aligns with children's needs for physical activity.

The study is conducted in 18 child centers, combining childcare and preschool settings. Participants include children aged 2-6 years and their pedagogical staff and teachers.

The primary research questions addressed are:

• Can pedagogical staff and teachers be supported in increasing physical activity levels among children aged 2-6 years?
• Can a scalable intervention for child centers be developed that can be implemented in other regions following completion of the study? A total of nine intervention centers will be compared with nine control centers to determine whether observed effects can be attributed to the intervention.

Children will participate in assessments of motor skills, wear accelerometers to measure physical activity levels, and take part in walk-along interviews and a draw-and-tell method. Parents will complete questionnaires. Pedagogical staff and teachers will complete questionnaires and participate in observational assessments. Management representatives of the child centers (both preschool and childcare) will participate in interviews and complete a questionnaire to construct an echogram.

Enrollment: 1,000 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 2+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Children must be in the child center in the recruitment period(s)
• Professionals in ECEC and management must be working at the child center during the recruitment period.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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1,000 participants in 2 patient groups

Childeren in ECEC settings

Experimental group

Description:

2-6 year olds

Treatment:

Behavioral: Actief Fundament

Professionals in ECEC settings

Experimental group

Description:

Pedagogical and educational staff including management

Treatment:

Behavioral: Actief Fundament