The Expansion of a Parent-Focused Physical Literacy Intervention for Early Childhood to Families Experiencing Vulnerability: Randomized Controlled Trial

Examine the efficacy and implementation of the expansion of a virtually delivered, parent-focused physical literacy intervention for early childhood called PLAYshop to families experiencing vulnerability. A randomized controlled trial was conducted in 35 parents (intervention: 16; control: 19) of preschool-aged children (3–5 years) from Alberta and British Columbia, Canada. PLAYshop included educational training (i.e. workshop), educational and material (i.e. handouts, active play equipment) resources, and follow-up support via an app with four bi-weekly booster lessons. Primary efficacy outcomes, including parental capability, opportunity, and motivation to support preschool-aged children’s physical literacy development, were measured at baseline and post-workshop (intervention group)/1-week post-baseline questionnaire (control group). Secondary implementation outcomes (satisfaction, perceived usefulness, facilitators, barriers, and dose) were measured in the parental questionnaire and explored via parent (n = 11), agency partner staff (n = 9), and workshop leader (n = 3) interviews. Repeated measures analyses of variance (RM ANOVAs) were conducted. Increases in parental capability (i.e. knowledge: partial η2= 0.124; p = .038), opportunity (i.e. perceived availability of resources: partial η2= 0.420; p < .001), and motivation (i.e. confidence: partial η2= 0.128; p = .035) to support preschool-aged children’s physical literacy development were observed in the intervention group, compared to the control group. All intervention parents found the workshop useful/extremely useful, were satisfied/extremely satisfied with the workshop content and delivery, and reported in interviews implementing physical literacy-related active play. Recruitment was challenging, and only 31% accessed ≥ 1 booster lesson. Efficacy for the PLAYshop intervention was observed for some outcomes in families experiencing vulnerability. Incorporating PLAYshop into existing programs of partner agencies may address implementation challenges.Trial Registration: NCT05436197