Effects of a Physical Education Programme in Preschool Children

NCT ID: NCT03454061

Last Updated: 2018-03-05

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 119 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2015-12-31
• Study Completion Date: 2016-06-30

Brief Summary

Unlike other European countries, Italian kindergartens do not include the physical education teacher in the school organic personnel. This is frequently associated with the lack of opportunities to perform physical education by preschool children. The aim of this study was to analyse the effects of a specific 16-week-long physical education programme (PEP) of 16-week length on the development of locomotor and object control skills in preschool children.

Detailed Description

We conducted a school-based non-randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effect of a specific 16-week-long physical education program (PEP) on the quotient of gross motor development (QGMD) in preschool children. This study involved 119 children who were clustered in a control group (CG, n= 29, age: 52.1±8.65 months; height: 1.1±0.07 m, body weight: 19.2±5.55 Kg, BMI: 16.9±3.16) and an intervention group (IG, n= 90, age: 57.4±9.42 months; height: 1.1±0.06 m, body weight: 19.3±3.65 Kg, BMI: 16±1.75). Participants were assessed for locomotor ability and object control skills using the Italian version of gross motor development test, before and after the experimental period.

Conditions

Motor Activity; Child Development

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NON_RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Intervention

Physical activity intervention

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

physical activity

Intervention Type: OTHER

Physical education program (PEP) of 16-week length

Control

Keep usual activities in kindergarten

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

physical activity

Physical education program (PEP) of 16-week length

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• preschool children

Exclusion Criteria

• Age < 40 months
• Age > 67 months

• Minimum Eligible Age: 40 Months
• Maximum Eligible Age: 67 Months
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

University of Palermo

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Giuseppe Battaglia

PhD

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Marianna Bellafiore

Role: STUDY_DIRECTOR

University of Palermo

References

Tabacchi G, Battaglia G, Alesi M, Paoli A, Palma A, Bellafiore M. Food literacy predictors and associations with physical and emergent literacy in pre-schoolers: results from the Training-to-Health Project. Public Health Nutr. 2020 Feb;23(2):356-365. doi: 10.1017/S1368980019002404. Epub 2019 Sep 2.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 31474231 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

TH Project

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id