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reported children have at least 60 minutes of structured or teacher-led, physical activity time (or 30 minutes in a half-day program) at follow-up (95.0%) than at baseline (88.4%), p<.001 (n=537). Of the 62 providers who indicated they were not doing this at baseline, 51 (82.3%) indicated they were doing this at follow-up. More participants indicated that information is provided to the parents about their child’s physical activity in child care at follow-up (91.4%) than at baseline (80.7%), p<.001 (n=512). Of the 99 who were not doing this at baseline, 74 (74.7%) reported doing this at follow-up. In terms of staff participation in physical activities with children, more providers indicated doing this at follow-up (97.3%) than at baseline (93.9%), p=.004 (n=555). Of the 34 providers who indicated staff were not participating in physical activities with children at baseline 29 (85.3%) indicated doing this at follow-up. Lastly, more providers indicated that parents were provided with information that encourages physical activity at home at follow-up (85.4%) than at baseline (77.0%), p<.001 (n=495). Of the 114 providers who indicated they were not doing this at baseline, 80 (70.2%) indicated they were doing this at follow-up.
One of the items that did not show statistically significant differences between baseline and follow-up was the item that showed the highest percentage of participants engaging in the practice at baseline with 94.3% of participants indicating they had 60 minutes of unstructured play at baseline. Therefore, the lack of significant change may have been to the lack of room for growth such that a majority of participants were already engaging in this practice at baseline. The final item which showed no significant change from baseline to follow-up was limiting screen time – time spent using a computer, smart board, or watching TV up to 30 minutes per week for the children. This is also an item which the largest percent of providers thought did not apply to their program. If the percent of providers who limit screen time for children to 30 minutes per week was low because those who indicated this did not apply are also limiting screen time (e.g. because there are no screen time devices in the program, screen time is unavailable, etc.), then this could be a positive finding. However, given that amount of screen time can be inversely related to the amount of physical activity and/or educational time that is spent by a child in a given day, this may be an area to explore for further intervention. Indeed, the LA County Department of Public Health reports that 74.8% of children 6-23 months watch TV daily and 22.7% of children 2-17 years watch 3 or more hours of TV each day.xxxi However, preliminary findings from an analysis of qualitative data indicate that some providers who received CHLA CC coaching are making concerted effort to reduce screen time by increasing physical activity.
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