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. 2018 Aug 23;15(9):1821.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph15091821.

Feasibility and Effectiveness of a Wearable Technology-Based Physical Activity Intervention in Preschoolers: A Pilot Study

Wonwoo Byun  1 , Erica Y Lau  2 , Timothy A Brusseau  3
Affiliations

Feasibility and Effectiveness of a Wearable Technology-Based Physical Activity Intervention in Preschoolers: A Pilot Study

Wonwoo Byun et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility and the effectiveness of an intervention that employed a technology-based physical activity (PA) monitoring system and teacher-regulated strategies to promote PA in preschoolers. A total of 93 preschoolers (53% girls, 4.7 years) from 5 child care centers were recruited for a one-week intervention and randomly assigned into control (2 centers, n = 45) or intervention (3 centers, n = 48) group. Key intervention components included: (1) wearable device-based, real-time monitoring of children's PA by classroom teachers and (2) teacher-regulated strategies for providing more opportunities for PA. Sedentary behavior (SED) and PA were measured using accelerometers. Overall, children in the intervention group showed significantly lower level of SED (31.6 vs. 33.6 min/h) and higher level of total PA (28.4 vs. 26.4 min/h) than children in the control group, after adjusting for age, sex, race, parent education level, parent perception of their child's PA, BMI, and childcare centers. Teachers in the intervention group reported that the intervention was highly feasible to be implemented in their current classroom settings. In conclusion, we observed high acceptability and initial effectiveness of the current intervention. Subsequent research at larger-scale is warranted to fully evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention strategies tested in this study.

Keywords: intervention; physical activity; preschool; sedentary behavior; social ecological model.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of participant recruitment and data analysis process.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Average Time Spent in Sedentary Behavior Between Children Attending the CON and the INT Preschools. * Difference between the CON and the INT preschools adjusted for age, sex, race, parent education, parent perception of child’s PA, BMI and childcare centers (p < 0.05); Bars, standard error.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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