Evaluation Of Indoor Pursuits For Moderate-to-vigorous Physical Activity In Preschoolers: A Pilot And Feasibility Study

Many preschoolers (ages 3-4 years) do not meet guidelines for physical activity (PA) due to low amounts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Identifying options to achieve MVPA indoors may help preschoolers be sufficiently active. PURPOSE: 1) to determine the feasibility and acceptability of indoor activities, and 2) compare MVPA estimates obtained by accelerometry and direct observation (DO). METHODS: This cross-sectional study in 35 preschoolers included performing a PA battery in a laboratory setting. Six activities (dancing to video, balloon/bubbles, cycle, circuits, running-in-place, and cleaning up) provided in the same order were facilitated by a trained staff member for up to 6 minutes/activity. Triaxial accelerometers (Actigraph Gt3xBT) were applied to the ankle, waist, and wrist. MVPA was obtained using age-specific cut-points. DO via video recording quantified time in total activity and MVPA. Overall protocol and activity feasibility and acceptability were assessed via parent and child report. Linear regression was used to assess differences by age and sex. Intra-class correlation coefficients were calculated by activity. RESULTS: Preschoolers (51% female, 54% 3-year-olds) contributed 4339 15-second epochs (~31.0 minutes/preschooler). Preschoolers achieved MVPA ≥50% of the time while engaging in balloon/bubbles, cycle, and circuits; but not while dancing to video (15%), running-in-place (48.5%), or cleaning up (8%). There were no differences in MVPA by age or sex. Parents rated the overall protocol feasible (4.0±0.7/5.0) and acceptable (4.7±0.7/5.0). Parents and preschoolers felt most activities were feasible (≥4.0/5.0). Waist and ankle accelerometry had strong agreement with DO (ICCs range: 0.70-0.84) while wrist had fair to low agreement (ICCs: 0.22-0.58). CONCLUSIONS: Indoor activities were feasible and acceptable for parents and children. Multiple activities show promise to increase preschoolers’ MVPA. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [U54GM104940, T32DK064584 and K99HD107158]. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.