Physical activity and motor development: effect of an intervention program based on school and family during childhood

Abstract

Several studies indicate a positive effect of intervention programs aimed at the practice of physical activity (PA) and motor development in childhood. However, knowledge of the effect of different interventions applied in different sociocultural contexts is limited, requiring research on the specific reality of a given population, particularly children exposed to high levels of social vulnerability. Considering the reality of public preschools placed in low-income communities in the east region of São Paulo city, Brazil, this project aims to conduct an intervention program with the school community (teachers, children and families) and assess its effectiveness in indicators of PA, motor competence and physical fitness of children, as well as verifying the longitudinal associations between these variables. Four public preschools will be randomly selected. The intervention aims to provide appropriate materials for the practice of PA within the preschool (balls, mattress, etc.) and to provide training and information programs, respectively for teachers and guardians of the children, focused on PA and motor development in childhood and the importance of school and family. Then, this intervention aims for teachers to teach, throughout the academic year, at least 4 hours a week of activities proposed in training, together with family support to the practice of adequate PA. To verify the effectiveness of this approach and the longitudinal associations between the variables, 540 preschoolers (aged 3 to 5 years) will be randomly selected for data collection which will include initial (baseline) and annual follow-up measures (follow-up) in PA, motor competence and physical fitness, with adjustments to the effect of sociodemographic variables and family environment. (AU)