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Physical ActivityNCT05359536

Training Early Childhood Educators to Increase Children's Physical Activity: The TEACH-Preschooler Study

A study testing Training Early Childhood educators in PA in people with Physical Activity, run by Western University, Canada at 1 site in Canada.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

This study aims to determine the effect of delivering a physical activity e-learning course to early childhood educators on young children's physical activity and sedentary behaviour while at childcare. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 30 to 60 monthsHealthy volunteers can take part
Conditions the study is for
Physical Activity
What is being tested?
Training Early Childhood educators in PA
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
145 participants
Where
1 siteCanada
Study dates
20 Jun 2022to 28 Aug 2023
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 30 to 60 months
  • All sexes
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Child

Who may be able to join

  • Childcare Centres:
  • Located in London, ON, Canada
  • Have at least 1 preschool classroom
  • Open every weekday
  • Operate for at least 8 hours on weekdays
  • All early childhood educators are willing to participate in the study
Show all 14Show fewer
  • Staff are English speaking
  • Early Childhood Educators:
  • Employed at a participating childcare centre
  • English speaking
  • Children:
  • Enrolled at a participating childcare centre
  • Between the ages 2.5-5 years at baseline
  • Are expected to remain at the childcare centre for the duration of the study period

Who cannot join

  • Childcare Centres:
  • Not located in London, ON, Canada
  • Do not have at least 1 preschool classroom
  • Not open every weekday
  • Do not operate for at least 8 hours on weekdays
  • Not all early childhood educators are willing to participate in the study
Show all 14Show fewer
  • Staff do not speak English
  • Early Childhood Educators:
  • Not employed at a participating childcare centre
  • Do not speak English
  • Children:
  • Not enrolled at a participating childcare centre
  • Not between the ages 2.5-5 years at baseline
  • Not expected to remain at the childcare centre for the duration of the study period

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

Canada1 site
  • Child Health and Physical Activity Lab

    London, Ontario

Other trials in Canada

About this study

Official title: Impact of an Early Childhood Educator e-Learning Course in Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour on Young Children's Movement Behaviours in Childcare: The TEACH-Preschooler Study

This study aims to determine the effect of delivering a physical activity e-learning course to early childhood educators on young children's physical activity and sedentary behaviour while at childcare. It is hypothesized that levels of physical activity will increase and levels of sedentary behaviours will decrease during time spent in childcare in a sample of children who attend early childcare centres where early childhood educators have completed the physical activity e-learning course compared to children in centres where early childhood educators are randomized to not receive the intervention. Differences in changes in several secondary outcomes including fundamental movement skills, parent's perceptions of children's fundamental movement skills, children's cognitive development, emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, peer relationship problems and prosocial behaviours will also be examined.

Read the detailed description

In this cluster randomized controlled trials, early childhood educators from childcare centres in London, Ontario, Canada will be randomized to complete a 4 module e-learning course with content on physical activity and sedentary guidelines, physical activity and sedentary behaviours in the childcare environment, how to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviours in young children, and a resource library, or to continue with their usual practices. Early childhood educators randomized to the intervention group will be asked to complete this course over a 2-week intervention period.

In both the intervention and control groups, preschoolers physical activity and sedentary behaviours will be measured at baseline, post-intervention (2-weeks) and 3-months follow-up using Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometers. Preschoolers will also complete tasks at baseline and 3-month follow-up to measure their cognitive development, and a subgroup of randomly selected children from each group will complete the Tests of Gross Motor Development - Third Edition to assess their fundamental movement skill proficiency at baseline and follow-up. Parents of children in both groups will complete a questionnaire to measure their perception of their children's proficiency at fundamental movement skills. Parents will also be asked to report on their child's emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, peer relationship problems and prosocial behaviours by completing the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire

Being tested
Training Early Childhood educators in PA
Keywords
Physical activity, Fundamental movement skills, E-learning, Preschool
Medical subject headings
Motor Activity

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Training Early Childhood educators in PABehavioural

    The four module e-learning course was developed using the Delphi technique and covers physical activity and sedentary guidelines, physical activity and sedentary behaviours in the childcare environment, how to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviours in young children, and a resource library.

Study groups in NCT05359536
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
E-learning InterventionExperimentalEarly career educators in the intervention condition will be asked to complete a 5-hour e-learning course over a two week timeframe. The four module e-learning course was developed using the Delphi technique and covers physical activity and sedentary guidelines, physical activity and sedentary behaviours in the childcare environment, how to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviours in young children, and a resource library.
Receives: Behavioral: Training Early Childhood educators in PA
Usual Practice ControlNo interventionEarly career educators in the control condition will be asked to continue with their usual practices. They will be invited to complete the e-learning course after the study period.

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Change in children's device measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity while at childcare measured

    Assessed using ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometers worn on each child's right hip for 5 consecutive days (Monday-Friday) while at childcare. Age-specific validated accelerometer cut-points will be used to calculate time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (i.e. >420 counts/15-second epoch). Children will be considered to have valid accelerometer data if they have at least 5 hours of accelerometer data on 2 days. Accelerometer non-wear time will be identified as any period with 20 consecutive minutes of zero counts.

    Measured: Baseline, post-intervention (2-weeks), and 3-months follow-up

Secondary outcomes (4)
  1. Change in children's device sedentary behaviours while at childcare

    Assessed using ActiGraph wGT3X-BT accelerometers worn on each child's right hip for 5 consecutive days (Monday-Friday) while at childcare. Age-specific validated accelerometer cut-points will be used to calculate time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (i.e. <48 counts/15-second epoch). Children will be considered to have valid accelerometer data if they have at least 5 hours of accelerometer data on 2 days. Accelerometer non-wear time will be identified as any period with 20 consecutive minutes of zero counts.

    Measured: Baseline, post-intervention (2-weeks), and 3-months follow-up

  2. Change in children's fundamental movement skills

    Assessed in a sub-sample of randomly selected children using the Test of Gross Motor Development - Third Edition. Test of Gross Motor Development - Third Edition tests six locomotor skills (run, gallop, hop, skip, jump, and slide) and 7 object control skills (two handed strike, forehand strike, dribble, catch, kick, overhand throw, and underhand throw). Each skill was assessed and scored twice on between 3-5 performance criteria where a child was given a 1 if the skill is performed correctly and a 0 if performed incorrectly. A total score between 0-100 is calculated with a higher score indicating a better outcome.

    Measured: Baseline and 3-months follow-up

  3. Change in parent's perceptions of fundamental movement skill proficiency

    Parents of children will be asked to report their perceptions of their child's fundamental movement skills. The self-reported scale will measure the same 13 fundamental movement skills measured in the Test of Gross Motor Development - Third Edition. The will rate their Childs proficiency for each skill on a scale from 1 = not that good, 2 = sort of good, 3 = pretty good and 4 = really good. Eah skill is presented with a picture of the skill being performed. The range of possible scores for this scale are 13-52, with higher scores indicating a better outcome.

    Measured: Baseline and 3-months follow-up

  4. Changes in scores on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

    Parents will report on their child's emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, peer relationship problems and prosocial behaviours. Each item is scored on a scale from 0 =not true, 1 =somewhat true, and 2 = certainly true, with positively worded questions being reversed scored for the emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, and peers relationship problem subscales. Higher scores on these four subscales indicates a worse outcome, while a higher score on the emotional symptoms subscale indicates a better outcome. Each subscale is scored on a scale from 0-10.

    Measured: Baseline and 3-months follow-up

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted4 May 2022
  2. Study start20 Jun 2022
  3. Primary completion28 Aug 2023
  4. Study completion28 Aug 2023

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Prevention
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
None (open label)
Enrolment
145 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT05359536
Sponsor's protocol ID
R4368A35
Status last verified
Mar 2024
First submitted
22 Apr 2022
Last updated
20 Mar 2024
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
No

Publications

  • Phillips SM, Bourke M, Bruijns BA, Vanderloo L, Loh A, Saravanamuttoo K, Tucker P. Associations Between Childcare Physical Activity and Sedentary Time and Early Childhood Developmental Outcomes: A Compositional and Isotemporal Substitution Analysis. Child Care Health Dev. 2024 Nov;50(6):e70011. doi: 10.1111/cch.70011.

    PubMed 39569560

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Training Early Childhood educators in PA in people with Physical Activity, run by Western University, Canada at 1 site in Canada.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 14 inclusion and 14 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 20 Mar 2024. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in Canada. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Change in children's device measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity while at childcare measured (time frame: Baseline, post-intervention (2-weeks), and 3-months follow-up). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT05359536, which also lists 1 linked publication.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 20 Mar 2024.

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