PLAYshop: A Parent-focused Physical Literacy Intervention for Early Childhood

PLAYshop: A Parent-focused Physical Literacy Intervention for Early Childhood

The PLAYshop program is a novel, brief, theory-based, parent-focused physical literacy intervention designed to address this major public health issue of childhood physical inactivity and to support families.

Primary Research Question: Does the PLAYshop program increase preschool-aged children's physical literacy, including fundamental movement skills and motivation and enjoyment, compared to controls?

The overall goal for the proposed study is to examine the efficacy of the PLAYshop program, a novel, brief, theory-based, parent-focused physical literacy intervention, on child- and family-specific outcomes.

Research Questions:

Primary: Does the PLAYshop program increase preschool-aged children's physical literacy, including fundamental movement skills and motivation and enjoyment, compared to controls? Secondary: Does the PLAYshop program increase preschool-aged children's physical activity and co-participation in physical activity with parents, compared to controls? Tertiary: 1) Does the PLAYshop program increase parents' capability, motivation, and opportunity to support preschool-aged children's physical literacy development, compared to controls? 2) What is the level of, and factors that influence, implementation at the family and program delivery level?

Hypotheses:

Increases in preschool-aged children's fundamental movement skills, motivation and enjoyment, physical activity, and parent-child co-participation in physical activity will be greater in the intervention group, compared to the control group. Additionally, increase in parents' capability, motivation, and opportunity to support preschool-aged children's physical literacy development will be greater in the intervention group, compared to the control group.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Children aged 3-5 years and their parents
• Living in non-rural areas of Alberta or British Columbia, Canada as defined by Statistics Canada

Exclusion Criteria:

• Children diagnosed with developmental delay or disorder/condition that may affect gross motor development or limit their ability to be physically active.
• Families with parents who do not comfortably speak or read English.
• Families that do not have access to a smartphone/tablet with camera and microphone.
• Families that have participated in prior PLAYshop pilot and feasibility trials.