Liz Wenden

PLAYCE@Home - understanding the impact of COVID-19 on children’s physical activity, health & development

Play Active Program – physical activity policy and training for Early Childhood Education and Care

PLAYCE PAWS: The health and developmental benefits of companion animals for young children

PLAYCE 2 School: Moving well for optimal child health and development

Supporting nutrition education in low socioeconomic schools in Western Australia

School-based nutrition education (NE) has an important role in promoting healthy eating habits and helping prevent chronic diseases – particularly among disadvantaged children and youth who are more likely to experience poor diet quality. 

Organizational readiness and implementation fidelity of an early childhood education and care-specific physical activity policy intervention: findings from the Play Active trial

Many children do not accumulate sufficient physical activity for good health and development at early childhood education and care (ECEC). This study examined the association between ECEC organizational readiness and implementation fidelity of an ECEC-specific physical activity policy intervention.

Play Active physical activity policy intervention and implementation support in early childhood education and care: results from a pragmatic cluster randomised trial

Policy interventions to increase physical activity in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are effective in increasing physical activity among young children. However, a large proportion of ECEC services do not have nor implement a physical activity policy.

A mobile health intervention to encourage physical activity in children: a randomised controlled trial

Despite immense benefits of physical activity on health and developmental outcomes, few children achieve recommended daily levels of physical activity. Given more than half of families with children own a dog, we investigated the effect of a mobile health (mHealth) intervention to encourage dog-facilitated physical activity through increased family dog walking and children's active play with their dog.

The relationship between dog ownership, dog play, family dog walking, and pre-schooler social-emotional development: findings from the PLAYCE observational study

Regular physical activity provides children with health and developmental benefits. This study investigated if active play and walking with the family dog was associated with better social-emotional development in young children.

Association between preschooler movement behaviours, family dog ownership, dog play and dog walking: Findings from the PLAYCE study

Physical inactivity in childhood is a major public health issue. Dog ownership has been widely reported to lead to greater physical activity in adults and school-aged children. We examined if dog ownership and dog-facilitated physical activity were associated with higher physical activity in preschoolers. Secondary analysis of the 'Play Spaces & Environments for Children's Physical Activity' (PLAYCE, 2015-2018) study involving 1366, 2-5-year-olds from 122 long day-care centres in Perth, Australia was conducted.

Evaluating the effectiveness of the Play Active policy intervention and implementation support in early childhood education and care: a pragmatic cluster randomised trial protocol

Daily physical activity is critical during the early years of life for facilitating children's health and development. A large proportion of preschool children do not achieve the recommended 3 h of daily physical activity. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are a key setting to intervene to increase physical activity. There is a significant need for ECEC specific physical activity policy, including clearer guidelines on the amount of physical activity children should do during care, and strategies for implementation of these guidelines.

A study protocol for a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a dog-facilitated physical activity minimal intervention on young children's physical activity, health and development: the PLAYCE PAWS trial

Pet ownership brings many health benefits to individuals. In children developmental benefits can extend to improved self-esteem, better social competence and decreased loneliness. The majority of households with children own a dog, however only a small proportion of children gain the benefits of dog ownership through dog walking and play. There are few intervention studies investigating the impact of dog-facilitated physical activity in children. The PLAYCE PAWS study aims to test a minimal-contact intervention through the use of mobile health ("mhealth") strategies, i.e. text (SMS) messages, to parents to encourage their children to walk and play with their dog more, and evaluate the impact on children's overall physical activity and development.

Nature play and fundamental movement skills training programs improve childcare educator supportive physical activity behavior

Both the Nature play and fundamental movement skills professional development programs were effective in improving educators’ self-efficacy to engage children