PLAY (PhysicaL ActivitY) Policy Study

• Changes in children's Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA)[ Time Frame: Measured for 5 consecutive days at baseline (i.e., week 0), mid-intervention (i.e., week 4), post-intervention (i.e., week 9), and at 6-months post-intervention. ]
  Assessed using ActiGraph wGT3X-BT accelerometers worn on each child's right hip for 5 consecutive days during childcare hours only. Differences in MVPA across groups (control vs. experimental) and over time will be assessed.
• Changes in children's Sedentary Time (ST)[ Time Frame: Measured for 5 consecutive days at baseline (week 0), mid-intervention (week 4), post-intervention (week 9), and at 6-months post-intervention. ]
  Assessed using ActiGraph wGT3X-BT accelerometers worn on each child's right hip for 5 days during childcare hours only. Differences between groups (control vs. experimental) and across time will be assessed.
• Self-efficacy scale for physical activity[ Time Frame: Providers will be asked to complete this survey one week prior to baseline measures (Time 1), at baseline (i.e., week 0; Time 2), then again at mid-intervention (i.e., week 4; Time 3), post-intervention (i.e., week 9; Time 4), and at 6 months follow-up. ]
  Developed for the study to assess childcare providers' self-efficacy to engage children in physical activity during hours of care. Providers are instructed to rate their confidence to each of 40 items on a Likert scale from 1 (no confidence at all) to 5 (somewhat confident) to 10 (completely confident). The psychometric properties of the scale will be evaluated, and childcare providers' self-efficacy may be examined as a correlate of children's objectively measured physical activity. Changes in self-efficacy across groups and time will be assessed.
• Environment and Policy Assessment and Observation Self-Report Today (EPAO-SR Today)[ Time Frame: Administered to childcare providers in participating classrooms to complete once at baseline (i.e., week 0), mid-intervention (i.e., week 4), post-intervention (i.e., week 9), and at 6-months follow-up. ]
  Developed and validated by Ward and colleagues (2015), this tool, adapted for use in Canada, without the nutrition scale, provides a snapshot of the daily childcare practices related to physical activity and screen-based sedentary time. Data will be compared across groups (control vs. experimental) and across time (week 0, week 4, week 9, and at 6 months follow-up).
• Policy intervention implementation log[ Time Frame: Childcare providers within participating classrooms will be asked to complete the log on three days of each week of the 8-week intervention period. ]
  A self-report log completed by childcare providers in experimental classrooms. Developed for the study to evaluate adherence to the PLAY policy within each classroom.
• Director Environment and Policy Assessment and Observation Self-Report (EPAO-SR)[ Time Frame: Completed at baseline (i.e., week 0) only. ]
  Developed and validated by Ward et al. (2015), this tool, adapted for use in Canada without the nutrition scale, measures each centre's physical space, equipment, environment, and existing physical activity policy and practices as reported by directors. This will be used as a screening tool to indicate any physical activity policies already in effect.
• Feasibility and appropriateness[ Time Frame: Conducted post-intervention (after week 9) ]
  Focus groups conducted with experimental group childcare providers will provide feedback on the feasibility and appropriateness of the policy. The challenges and solutions used to overcome these challenges will be discussed. Suggestions for potential modifications and improvements to the policy will be collected to inform future iterations for further investigation with larger, more diverse samples.

This study examines the effectiveness and appropriateness of a written physical activity policy implemented in licensed centre-based childcare on the physical activity levels of toddlers (1-2) and preschoolers (3-5 years). Half of the childcare centres will adopt the physical activity policy while the other half will continue with their typical daily programming and care. It is hypothesized that children enrolled in childcare centres that adopt the policy will display increased levels of physical activity during, and after participating in the policy intervention compared to children enrolled in centres that do not adopt the policy.

• Behavioral: PLAY (PhysicaL ActivitY) Policy Intervention
  An evidence-based physical activity policy that was developed by researchers and childcare stakeholders and directed by the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years will be adopted by experimental group childcare centres for 8 weeks. The policy incorporates 8 items (i.e., encouraging children to engage in higher intensity energetic play often, aiming to accumulate 40 minutes each day, exposing children to a variety of indoor and outdoor physical activities, child-directed and teacher-facilitated active play daily, short bouts of outdoor time for a total of 120 minutes each day made up of primarily unstructured free play, encouraging physical literacy by practicing fundamental movement skills, not exposing children to screen-based technology during childcare, and purposefully breaking up sustained sedentary time using physical activities).

• Experimental: PLAY (PhysicaL ActivitY) Policy Intervention
  The childcare physical activity policy will be adopted for 8 weeks within participating toddler and preschool classrooms of facilities allocated to the experimental group.
• No Intervention: Control group
  Childcare centres will maintain their typical daily programming and standard of care for the duration of the 8-week intervention period.