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Childcare centres urged to adopt new policy to boost kids’ physical activity

Childcare centres will be invited to help boost children’s physical activity levels by signing on to a new program which commits them to creating more opportunities for physical activity.

Pre-term kids get green light to exercise

Parents of children born prematurely have expressed concerns about their child’s lung health when they exercise, with symptoms such as breathlessness.

New national trial leverages childcare to boost physical activity in young Aussie kids

More than 80,000 Australian children are expected to benefit as 700 childcare centres across the country trial a new program aimed at boosting declining physical activity levels.

Development and application of a scoring and visualization approach for 24-hour movement behaviours: an example based on social-emotional development in early years children

Current methods for assessing the healthfulness of 24-hour movement behaviours (sleep, sedentary time, light physical activity, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity) use binary classifications that fail to capture their continuous and compositional nature. This study introduces a percentile-based scoring and visualization approach to evaluate the healthfulness of movement behaviour time-use compositions, using social-emotional development in early childhood as an example.

Seasonal variation in BMI outcomes at 6 months: secondary analyses of a multidisciplinary healthy lifestyle programme for children and adolescents with obesity

While international evidence suggests seasonal variations may influence outcomes of interventions for pediatric obesity, data for Aotearoa New Zealand are limited. We examined seasonal variations in changes in body mass index standard deviation score (BMI SDS) in young people with obesity enrolled in an intervention programme. 

Evaluating Type 1 Diabetes Resources to Improve Awareness and Knowledge of Type 1 Diabetes Within Community Sport Settings

A main challenge identified by youth during exercise and sport is the lack of knowledge and awareness around type 1 diabetes (T1D) particularly in community sport settings. Working with youth living with T1D, parents and community sport coaches, our team has developed resources for the T1D and sporting community. This study was to evaluate the acceptability and usability of the resources.

Move to improve: protocol for a single-arm, pragmatic feasibility trial of an individualised physical activity programme for children with chronic conditions

Physical activity improves physical and psychosocial outcomes in healthy children and in children with a range of chronic health conditions. Unfortunately, children with chronic health conditions have lower levels of physical activity compared to their healthy peers due to multiple restrictions in physical activities and therefore tend to have lower levels of physical activity compared with their peers. This paper describes the protocol for Move to Improve, a pragmatic trial of an individualised physical activity intervention for children with chronic health conditions.

Acceptability, feasibility, and program outcomes of an equity-focused, adapted community-based healthy lifestyle program for children, young people, and their families

International guidelines recommend multidisciplinary intervention programs for addressing childhood obesity. In Western Australia, community-based healthy lifestyle programs for children and young people are insufficient for demand, especially for those over-represented in obesity statistics relating to prevalence. This protocol outlines the implementation and evaluation of an adapted, evidenced, community-based program in Perth, Western Australia.

Evaluating the scale-up of the Play Active programme for children’s physical activity in early childhood education and care services: a national type III hybrid effectiveness-implementation

Physical activity is crucial for young children's health and development. Many young children do not meet the recommended 3 hours of daily physical activity, including 60 min of energetic play. Early childhood education and care (ECEC/childcare) is a key setting to intervene to improve children's physical activity. The Play Active programme is a scalable evidence-informed ECEC-specific physical activity policy intervention with implementation support strategies to improve educators' physical activity-related practices.

Scalability and scaling-up strategy of a physical activity policy intervention in Australian childcare centres

There is an urgent need for scalable interventions to promote physical activity in early childhood. An early childhood education and care physical activity policy intervention with implementation support strategies (Play Active) has been proposed for scale-up in Australia.