Adapting a Parent-Child Physical Activity Curriculum to a Group Setting for Children in an Underserved Community

After school physical activity (PA) programs provide opportunities for safe participation in PA contributing to children’s health. PURPOSE: This pilot study evaluated the adaptation of a dyadic (parent-child) PA curriculum to a group setting for children in an underserved community. METHODS: Once a week for ten weeks, 17 children (6F/9M, 8±1y) participated in one-hour PA sessions which included warm-up, strength exercises, and games targeting the development of motor skills. Kinesiology students adapted a game-based PA curriculum (FunDoRoo™) for children ages 6-10. One group of students (n=4) planned and conducted the PA sessions (PA leaders), while another group (n=3) observed/rated the activities.The observers rated each activity for the level of engagement (1=all moving [more engagement] to 5= almost no one moving [less engagement]), enjoyment (1=low to 5=high), and difficulty (1=very easy to 4=very difficult). Ratings from weeks 1-5 were compared to weeks 6-10 using independent sample t-tests, significance was set at p<.05 RESULTS: 12 children completed the program (dropout=5). Attendance was of 77.5%. For the warm-up exercises, there were no changes in the ratings of engagement (M=1.3±.6, p=.092), difficulty (M=1.5±.6, p=.186), or enjoyment (M=4.3±.8, p=.085). For the strength exercises, there were no changes in the ratings of difficulty (M=2.2±.9, p=.555) and enjoyment (M=3.9±.1.0, p=.332), but showed significant improvement in engagement in weeks 6-10 (M=1.3±.5) compared to weeks 1-5 (M=1.8±.8, p=.003). For the games, there were no changes in the ratings of engagement (M=1.5±.8, p=.497) and enjoyment (M=4.3±.9, p=.629), but showed significant decrease in levels of difficulty in weeks 6-10 (1.6±.7) compared to weeks 1-5 (2.2±.8, p=.0120) CONCLUSION: Throughout the 10-week program, children demonstrated an increase in engagement with strength exercises and a decrease in difficulty in the games, while their enjoyment remained high in all activities. Possibly, as PA leaders debriefed after each PA session and consequently adapted activities for the following sessions these strategies helped tailoring the PA to the group. Further studies should determine if the adapted curriculum improves motor skills.