Active Together: Exploring Parental Engagement with Preschoolers’ Physical Activity

Globally, young children’s participation in physical activity (PA) falls below the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommendations of daily PA. Parents have control over the activities their pre-school children participate in. It is therefore of importance to gain an understanding of how parents engage with their preschooler’s PA. This dissertation used the social ecological model (SEM) to gain an understanding of parental engagement with physical activity for Nursery children (ages 3-4) in Sandwell, UK. Semi structured interviews were conducted with parents and staff at a Nursery unit. Each parent/child dyad was given a MiniMovers equipment bag and set of activity cards to use at home and invited back for a follow up interview. Data was analysed using the process of thematic analysis. Several barriers were identified across multiple levels of the SEM. A significant finding was a lack of parent and staff knowledge of the PA guidelines. This highlighted a gap between policy level and practice. Public Health information is not being successfully disseminated to Early Years staff or parents. Further studies, using the SEM as a framework, are required to examine the multiple factors that influence how policies are transferred to practice.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

ma

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Sanderson, Katherine

• LB Theori ac arfer addysg

Dc Identifier Grantnumber

UWTSD

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:4023