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Tooty fruity vegie in preschools: Preventing overweight and obesity in early childhood
Abstracts / Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 12 (2010) e1–e232
gies used to meet the criteria. These methods ascertained program awareness, whole-of-service involvement in the award program criteria, standards and quality of workaround each criterion and recognised innovative activities that ECS were undertaking which could serve as good practise examples. Results: The findings highlighted that services were reaching and maintaining the standard and quality of the award criteria and the program. However, it was identified beyond the award program children’s levels of active play and the services’ approach to the range of active play opportunities varied. In particular, variation occurred in the quality of outdoor play environments, the availability of outdoor play equipment, opportunities for challenging children, risk taking and innovation in experiences and programming. Conclusions: There was consistency in the quality of work across Kids—“Go for your life” award criteria and, services were meeting recommended award standards. However, more work needs to be done to support outdoor active play environments to ensure they are interactive, challenging and flexible. Further work around developing the capacity of services to address active play is required so that challenging outdoor active play becomes a greater priority.
e171
sedentary behaviours at home, and dealing with demands for energy-dense-nutrient-poor foods and drinks. Pre- and post-intervention evaluation included movement skills testing, lunch box audits, parents’ surveys, and anthropometric measures (waist girth, weight and height). Results: Overall, 1005 records were collected from 560 children in 18 intervention and 13 control preschools during 2006 and 2007. Children in intervention preschools significantly improved movement skills (p < 0.0001), increased fruit and vegetable intake (p < 0.0001) and decreased unhealthy food intake (p < 0.0001). Changes in BMI, reported time spent in sedentary behaviours and outdoors were not significant (p = 0.12, p = 0.52, and p = 0.8 respectively). There was a significant arrest of waist circumference growth (p = 0.020) and a significant reduction in the proportion of children who had an early adiposity rebound (p = 0.043). Conclusions: A 10-month program in preschools can produce significant changes in children’s movement skills, food intake, and possibly some overweight/obesity indicators. More intensive work with parents is required to have a significant impact on children’s sedentary behaviours. Further research is needed on the effect of preschools interventions on children’s physical activity engagement.
doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2009.10.357 SYMPOSIUM
doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2009.10.358 SYMPOSIUM
357 358 Tooty fruity vegie in preschools: Preventing overweight and obesity in early childhood A. Zask ∗ , J. Adams, J. Pettit, J. Dixon, D. Hughes North Coast Area Health Service–Health Promotion Introduction: One in five preschool aged children in NSW is overweight or obese. Many of the behaviours linked to inappropriate weight gain such as engagement in physical activity, motor skills level and dietary habits are formed in early childhood, making this age group an important target for the promotion of physical activity and prevention of obesity. Being physically active is important for maintenance of children’s healthy weight, but is also an independent contributor to children’s physical, mental and social development and health and has both short and long term beneficial effects on health. The Munch and Move program on the North Coast of NSW aimed at preventing unhealthy weight gain by improving preschoolers’ movement skills, reducing their sedentary behaviours, and improving their nutritional intake. Methods: Preschool staff were trained to play movementskills-specific games with children, incorporate active sessions in the curriculum, adjust preschools’ policies on physical activity and nutrition, and encourage children to enjoy nutritious food by growing, cooking and taste testing. Health staff worked with parents to implement healthy lunch box policies, increase parents’ skills in reducing children’s
The risk is that there is “no risk”: A simple, innovative intervention to increase children’s activity A. Bundy 1 , G. Naughton 2,∗ , P. Tranter 3 , S. Wyver 4 1 University
of Sydney Catholic University 3 Australian Defence Force Academy 4 Macquarie University 2 Australian
Introduction: School playgrounds offer everyday opportunities for physically active and social play that combats obesity, develops skills, and promotes wellbeing. But Unfortunately, parents’ and teachers’ fear of injury and its consequences can elicit over-zealous risk reduction. Thus, many playgrounds lack challenge and the potential benefits of play are limited. In this research, we trialled a simple, inexpensive strategy to encourage children to be more active and social on the school playground. Method: Over 11 weeks, we made available materials with no fixed purpose (e.g., car tyres, boxes) on a playground used by children aged 5 and 6 years. Children were allowed to use the materials in any way they chose and no instruction was given. Teachers on playground duty were encouraged not to intervene unless the children were at risk. A small group of parents engaged in two 2-h sessions of risk reframing in which they examined the benefits of play and the poten-
gies used to meet the criteria. These methods ascertained program awareness, whole-of-service involvement in the award program criteria, standards and quality of workaround each criterion and recognised innovative activities that ECS were undertaking which could serve as good practise examples. Results: The findings highlighted that services were reaching and maintaining the standard and quality of the award criteria and the program. However, it was identified beyond the award program children’s levels of active play and the services’ approach to the range of active play opportunities varied. In particular, variation occurred in the quality of outdoor play environments, the availability of outdoor play equipment, opportunities for challenging children, risk taking and innovation in experiences and programming. Conclusions: There was consistency in the quality of work across Kids—“Go for your life” award criteria and, services were meeting recommended award standards. However, more work needs to be done to support outdoor active play environments to ensure they are interactive, challenging and flexible. Further work around developing the capacity of services to address active play is required so that challenging outdoor active play becomes a greater priority.
e171
sedentary behaviours at home, and dealing with demands for energy-dense-nutrient-poor foods and drinks. Pre- and post-intervention evaluation included movement skills testing, lunch box audits, parents’ surveys, and anthropometric measures (waist girth, weight and height). Results: Overall, 1005 records were collected from 560 children in 18 intervention and 13 control preschools during 2006 and 2007. Children in intervention preschools significantly improved movement skills (p < 0.0001), increased fruit and vegetable intake (p < 0.0001) and decreased unhealthy food intake (p < 0.0001). Changes in BMI, reported time spent in sedentary behaviours and outdoors were not significant (p = 0.12, p = 0.52, and p = 0.8 respectively). There was a significant arrest of waist circumference growth (p = 0.020) and a significant reduction in the proportion of children who had an early adiposity rebound (p = 0.043). Conclusions: A 10-month program in preschools can produce significant changes in children’s movement skills, food intake, and possibly some overweight/obesity indicators. More intensive work with parents is required to have a significant impact on children’s sedentary behaviours. Further research is needed on the effect of preschools interventions on children’s physical activity engagement.
doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2009.10.357 SYMPOSIUM
doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2009.10.358 SYMPOSIUM
357 358 Tooty fruity vegie in preschools: Preventing overweight and obesity in early childhood A. Zask ∗ , J. Adams, J. Pettit, J. Dixon, D. Hughes North Coast Area Health Service–Health Promotion Introduction: One in five preschool aged children in NSW is overweight or obese. Many of the behaviours linked to inappropriate weight gain such as engagement in physical activity, motor skills level and dietary habits are formed in early childhood, making this age group an important target for the promotion of physical activity and prevention of obesity. Being physically active is important for maintenance of children’s healthy weight, but is also an independent contributor to children’s physical, mental and social development and health and has both short and long term beneficial effects on health. The Munch and Move program on the North Coast of NSW aimed at preventing unhealthy weight gain by improving preschoolers’ movement skills, reducing their sedentary behaviours, and improving their nutritional intake. Methods: Preschool staff were trained to play movementskills-specific games with children, incorporate active sessions in the curriculum, adjust preschools’ policies on physical activity and nutrition, and encourage children to enjoy nutritious food by growing, cooking and taste testing. Health staff worked with parents to implement healthy lunch box policies, increase parents’ skills in reducing children’s
The risk is that there is “no risk”: A simple, innovative intervention to increase children’s activity A. Bundy 1 , G. Naughton 2,∗ , P. Tranter 3 , S. Wyver 4 1 University
of Sydney Catholic University 3 Australian Defence Force Academy 4 Macquarie University 2 Australian
Introduction: School playgrounds offer everyday opportunities for physically active and social play that combats obesity, develops skills, and promotes wellbeing. But Unfortunately, parents’ and teachers’ fear of injury and its consequences can elicit over-zealous risk reduction. Thus, many playgrounds lack challenge and the potential benefits of play are limited. In this research, we trialled a simple, inexpensive strategy to encourage children to be more active and social on the school playground. Method: Over 11 weeks, we made available materials with no fixed purpose (e.g., car tyres, boxes) on a playground used by children aged 5 and 6 years. Children were allowed to use the materials in any way they chose and no instruction was given. Teachers on playground duty were encouraged not to intervene unless the children were at risk. A small group of parents engaged in two 2-h sessions of risk reframing in which they examined the benefits of play and the poten-