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Nurturing children's health together: A collaboration between early childhood education and care (ECEC) educators and parents on active play and eating well

Research

The observed decline in children's active school transport (AST) across numerous countries over recent decades necessitates targeted, multi-level interventions to reverse this trend. However, data on young people's preferred AST interventions is lacking. This study aimed to explore children's preferences for AST interventions and assess differences between AST users and non-users among primary and secondary school students.

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In Australia, there are concerns that unrestricted junk food advertising during sports broadcasts increases short-term junk food consumption among viewers. Therefore, the present study aimed to estimate the impact of junk food and anti-junk food advertising on consumption inclinations.

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Research suggests there is considerable opportunity to improve children's movement behaviors while they are being cared for by their grandparents. An understanding of the extent to which grandparent practices facilitate children's engagement in physical activity is critical to the development of health interventions targeting grandparent caregivers.

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Childcare services such as preschools and long day care centres have been identified as a key setting to promote physical activity in early childhood as they provide access to large numbers of children for prolonged periods. Yet, specific standards for the type and amount of physical activity children accumulate whilst attending childcare are lacking. The purpose of this study was to derive population-referenced percentile values for children's total movement and energetic play whilst attending early childhood education and care services.

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Natural outdoor environments such as green and blue spaces have increasingly been seen as key health and wellbeing determinants for adults. However, it is unclear if these effects are seen in young children. We examined the associations between access to natural green and blue space and young children's socioemotional development. 

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Meeting 24-h movement behavior guidelines for the early years is associated with better health and development outcomes in young children. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) is a key intervention setting however little is known about the content and implementation of movement behavior polices in this context. To inform policy development this international scoping review examined the prevalence, content, development and implementation of ECEC-specific movement behavior policies.

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To investigate the correlates of adolescent energy drink use using a socioecological approach to inform future interventions.

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We examined the moderating effects of parent perceptions of the neighbourhood environment on associations between objectively measured neighbourhood environment attributes and physical activity among pre-schoolers. The number of neighbourhood parks was positively associated with pre-schooler energetic play when parents had above average perceptions of access to services.

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Regular physical activity is important for children's physical and mental health, yet many children do not achieve recommended amounts of physical activity. Dog ownership has been associated with increased physical activity in children, however, there have been no longitudinal studies examining this relationship.