A randomized controlled trial for families with preschool children - Promoting healthy eating and active playtime by connecting to nature
A proposed study aims to measure the effectiveness of “connectedness to nature” as a factor in promoting physical activity and healthy eating in young children.
This paper presents an experimental study protocol designed to investigate whether connecting families to nature positively influences physical activity and healthy eating routines in children aged 2 to 4. Connectedness to nature will be encouraged through nature-discovery games and attention to nature-related sounds, touch, smells, and the outdoor temperature.
Over 200 families with children aged 2 to 4 will be recruited to participate in a healthy lifestyle educational program. Half of the families will be assigned randomly to weekly one-hour educational sessions for 10 weeks. The other families will be put on a wait list and serve as the control for this study.
Each educational session will include a presentation of healthy lifestyle information, an opportunity to discuss related strategies, and time to enact a certain parenting practice. The format will consist of (1) 15 minutes of guided active play involving both children and parents; (2) 15 minutes of interactive education and skill development for parents with simultaneous supervised active play with foods for children as a way to promote acceptance of vegetables; and (3) 15 minutes of guided active nature games outdoors, involving both parents and children.
An assessment of lifestyle-related habits (especially at they apply to physical activity and healthy eating) will be conducted before and immediately after the 10-week intervention. Follow-up assessments will be administered at 6 and 12 months’ post intervention. A Nature Relatedness Scale (NRS) – to be validated and tested for reliability prior to the randomized controlled trial – will also be used for the assessments. The NRS will address four different areas of nature relatedness: (1) enjoyment of nature, (2) empathy for nature, (3) sense of responsibility, and (4) awareness of nature.
This study is based on the understanding that engaging children in nature and promoting their connectedness to nature will bring about positive changes in both eating and activity habits in preschool children, resulting in a healthier lifestyle.
Citation
Sobko, T., Tse, M., Kaplan, M., (2016). A randomized controlled trial for families with preschool children - Promoting healthy eating and active playtime by connecting to nature. BMC Public Health, 16
