This study aimed to broaden the understanding of young South Asian women's experiences/relationships and participation in leisure physical activities at universities in the United States. Using a phenomenological design, semi-structured interviews of 20-30 minutes duration were conducted with 5 South Asian women about their relationships and experiences when participating or attempting to participate in physical activity while attending university in the US. The following criteria were set for participants to be included in this study: they should be between the ages of 18 and 24, non-US citizens from a South Asian country, attend a university in the US, and engage in other physical activities. The interviews were audio recorded via Zoom and then the audio data were transcribed verbatim and then coded to identify the major barriers commonly experienced by participants. Results indicated that many girls and women perceived the US as a "safer" place with excellent infrastructure, ample opportunities to engage in physical activities, and convenient access to gyms, which encourage them (women) to remain active. Most participants were hesitant to participate in physical activities because of the culturally non-responsiveness of the system. This research study was done in a shorter time span with a small sample size. Further research should explore more deeply the experiences of South Asian women regarding their physical activities in the US with larger groups of samples that may be a better representative of the South Asian population.

Most college students do not engage in adequate physical activity. Physical education requirements (PERs) are often viewed as a potential solution to physical inactivity within this population as these courses provide opportunities for students to be physically active and/or become educated about healthy lifestyles. The potential benefits of these courses are particularly salient for Black college students who face many health disparities. The purpose of this study was to examine the health education and physical activity course offerings and requirements at Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs). We examined the online course catalogs of all four-year accredited HBCUs in the United States (N = 86) to determine if they 1) offered and/or 2) required their students to take any health education or physical activity courses. Overall, 81 of the four-year HBCUs in this study (94%) at least offered their students a physical activity or health education course, although only 42 schools (48.8%) required either course for graduation. The remaining 44 institutions (51.1%) did not require their students to take a health education or physical activity course for graduation. PERs appear to be more prevalent at HBCUs compared to non-HBCUs; however, there has been a reduction in PERs across all institutions alike over the past few decades. Future studies should explore whether higher PERs at HBCUs are associated with Black students' actual physical activity behaviors. HBCUs are presented with a unique opportunity to support the health behaviors and knowledge of Black college students.

Only one in three adults in the United States meets the weekly recommendation for physical activity (PA). The presence of children in the home may restrict adult PA. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between adult moderate and vigorous sport, fitness, and recreational physical activities and the number and age (0–5 and 6–17) of children in their household. Secondary data were drawn from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2007–2016. Adults with complete survey data for self-reported moderate (MPA) and vigorous physical activities (VPA), number of children in the home, and other sociodemographic variables were included. The final sample included 2034 adults from 22–65 years of age. Analyses included ANOVAs and separate multivariable regression analyses to determine if the number of children in the household aged 0–5 and 6–17 were significant predictors of weekly moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) after controlling for covariates. For MPA, no differences were found between adult PA regardless of the number and age of children in the home. For VPA, adults with two or more children aged 0–5 reported 80 fewer minutes of weekly VPA (p < 0.05) compared to those with no children or just one child in this age group after controlling for all covariates. Finally, adults with three or more children in the household aged 6–17 reported fifty fewer minutes of weekly VPA (p < 0.05) compared to those with no children, one, or just two in the household. These findings highlight a need to support the vigorous PA behaviors of this population, as the majority of the family-based PA intervention studies to date have primarily focused on family dyads.

Previous mastery motivational climate (MMC) movement interventions have enhanced fundamental motor skill (FMS) competence across diverse groups of preschool-age children. Yet, an adequate intervention length has not been established. Our purposes in this study were to (i) compare FMS competence in preschool children across two doses of MMC interventions, and (ii) describe changes in children's FMS 'mastery' across doses. We used secondary data analysis from a larger MMC intervention study in which 32 children (Mage = 4.4) received FMS testing (TGMD-3) at the mid-point of intervention and at post-intervention. A two-way mixed ANOVA with Group as the independent variable and FMS competence across three Time points as the repeated measure was significant for both Group and Time main effects for locomotor and ball skill competences separately. There was a statistically significant interaction between Group and Time on locomotor (p = .02) and ball skills (p < .001). Both groups showed significant improvements in their locomotor skills at each time point, but the intervention group improved faster than the comparison group. For ball skills, only the MMC group significantly improved by mid-intervention, and the comparison group showed significant improvements from pre-to post-intervention only. Children in this study were most likely to show mastery in running first, followed by sliding at mid-intervention. Few children mastered skipping, galloping, and hopping across the study. For ball skills, overhand and underhand throwing were more likely to be mastered, and few children mastered one and two-hand striking across the study. Collectively, these findings suggest that duration of instructional minutes may not be the most effective proxy for identifying a dose-response relationship of MMC intervention. Moreover, focusing on the patterns of skill mastery can help inform researchers and practitioners as to how to allocate instructional time during MMC interventions to optimize FMS competence for young children.

BackgroundMastery motivational climate (MMC) interventions are an evidence-based approach utilized to deliver motor skill interventions (MSI) for young children. There are 6 environmental characteristics and instructional cues an instructor must appropriately manipulate to implement a MMC. These are known as the TARGET and stand for Task, Authority, Recognition, Grouping, Evaluation, and Time.PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the procedural, educational, and instructional components of intervention fidelity that we believe should be considered in the design, training, delivery, and assessment of a MMC intervention. The design phase should consider the intended intervention exposure and dosage prior to the intervention and develop a plan for implementation and measurement of intervention dose across the study. Conducting effective training for research personnel and developing formal implementation protocols are also important for intervention fidelity. During the intervention it is important to measure adherence to the TARGET structures using a formal checklist. Finally, we find it important to describe the extent to which the intervention was delivered as planned and report how closely we aligned with TARGET adherence throughout intervention implementation.FindingsThe discussion highlights how our increased efforts in our intervention fidelity have enhanced the quality and delivery of our MMC interventions from a pedagogical perspective. Specifically, in how we have used previous fidelity data to inform our future MMC intervention studies. There is more work to be done in MMC intervention fidelity, especially moving towards more teacher implemented MMC studies in the future as well as addressing participant level (i.e. attendance) fidelity concerns.

Background The concept of engagement is a multidimensional construct that has long been used by researchers as a means of explaining student behaviour in classrooms and schools. However, the research using this construct within physical education has been particularly uneven. Purpose The goal of this paper was to examine the application of the concept of student engagement with the research literature on physical education. Method The scoping review was conducted using the boundaries of including the terms 'physical education' and 'engagement' in the title, being located specifically within physical education settings, and focused on student (rather than teacher) engagement. Results Analysis of the corpus of papers led to the conclusion that studies could be grouped into five categories, with each differentiated by source, involvement of theory, methodology, definitions of engagement, and intended audience. These were given the following labels: (i) studies involving operational and multi-dimensional definitions of engagement (ii) figurative studies (iii) single dimension studies, (iv) qualitative studies, and (v) reviews and practitioner-oriented papers. Discussion Given the considerable diversity in the application of the term engagement, it is recommended that future research in the field (no matter the intended audience), should consider the author's interpretation of the term formally somewhere in the introduction. In addition, it is proposed that future empirical research examining student engagement in physical education could also benefit from including evidence of both student self-perceptions about their engagement as well as observations of their in-class behaviours.

Children's self-perceived competence is critical for their engagement in fundamental motor skills (FMS), although these perceptions are highly inaccurate until around age seven (grade 2). Moreover, FMS competence is highly correlated with physical activity engagement in childhood. In this study we examined: (a) if children's perceptions of their FMS competence differed after they were allowed to perform the skill or observe their performance, and (b) if the accuracy of children's perceived competence changed under those conditions. Child participants (N = 76; K-second grade) judged their own competence for three physical skills (running, skipping and dribble or hopping) on the Harter and Pike Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance under three conditions: (a) a no-performance baseline, (b) after performing each skill, and (c) after observing themselves performing the skill. A repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that their perceived competence differed across these conditions for running but not for skipping/hopping (p = .556) or for dribbling (p = .368). Spearman's rho correlations showed that their perceived running competence scores better predicted their actual competence after observing their performance (rs = .25, p = .029) than after other conditions. Both performing and observing their performance were associated with changes in perceptions of running competence. Future research should focus on how and when children's perceived competence is assessed and how perceptions relate to FMS and physical activity engagement.

ABSTRACT Introduction/Purpose Fundamental motor skills (FMS)—the building blocks of play, recreation, and sport—are deficient in overweight and obese children. FMS interventions may curb increasing childhood obesity rates. This randomized control trial aimed to determine the effect of an FMS intervention on fat mass (FM), fat-free mass (FFM), and body mass index (BMI) in preschool-aged children (ages 3–5 yr) attending a low-income preschool. Researchers hypothesized that children in the intervention would have increased FFM. Methods Eleven preschool classes (n = 136; mean age, 4.3 yr; 74% Black) were randomly assigned to the intervention (6 classes) or control (5 classes) groups. Participants in the intervention group attended a 30-min FMS intervention two times per week for 9 months, whereas the control group simultaneously participated in outdoor-free play. FM and FFM were measured with foot-to-foot bioelectrical impedance before and after intervention. BMI was measured using height and weight. Results At baseline, the control group had significantly more FM (t76 = −2.12, P = 0.04) and FFM (t76 = −2.59, P = 0.01) than the intervention group. A mixed-effects analysis of variance examined differences in FM, FFM, and BMI with respect to group, sex, and time. Significant time by group interactions were found for FM (P = 0.05), FFM (P = 0.01), and BMI (P = 0.05). The intervention group increased FM, FFM, and BMI by 12.93%, 9.11%, and 0.75%, respectively, whereas the control group increased FM, FFM, and BMI by 23.60%, 12.75%, and 5.30%, respectively. Conclusions The findings of the current study suggest that an FMS intervention can delay additions of FM. It is further evident that increases in FM occurred at an alarming rate in primarily Black preschool children from a low-income center. The findings emphasize the importance of FMS in obesity prevention and measuring body composition in preschool children.

Fundamental motor skills (FMS) are an underlying mechanism driving physical activity behavior and promoting positive developmental trajectories for health. However, little is known about FMS of preschool-aged children with visual impairments (VI). The purpose of this study was to examine the FMS of preschool-aged children (N = 25) with (n = 10) and without (n = 15) VI as measured using the Test of Gross Motor Development-3. Children without VI performed significantly higher than their peers for locomotor (M = +11.87, p = .014, η2 = .31) and ball skills (M = +13.69, p < .001, η2 = .56). Regardless of the presence of a VI, many participants struggled with developing FMS, with the greatest disparity resting within ball skills. These findings help to clarify the FMS levels of preschool-aged children with VI. Thus, there is a need for both further inquiry and intervention for all children.

BACKGROUND:Rates of obesity and severe obesity have increased in young children aged 3-5 in recent years. Fundamental motor skills (FMS), which are the building blocks of movement, are deficient in overweight and obese children, and FMS interventions may provide a method to curb childhood obesity. PURPOSE: This randomized control trial aimed to determine the effect of a FMS intervention on Fat Mass (FM), Fat-Free Mass (FFM), and BMI in children aged 3 to 5. METHODS: Eleven preschool classes were randomly assigned to an intervention (6 classes) or control group (5 classes). Participants in the intervention group attended a FMS intervention twice a week, whereas the control group participated in outdoor free play. Time spent outdoors (870 minutes) and teacher to child ratio was equated between groups. FM and FFM were measured with foot-to-foot bioelectrical impedance and BMI pre and post-intervention. RESULTS: The control group had significantly more fat-free mass before the study than the intervention group (t = - 2.586, p = .012). Post testing showed the intervention group had a significantly lower fat mass (t = - 2.820, p = .006), fat free mass (t = - 3.465, p = .001), and BMI (t = - 2.649, p = .010) when compared to the control group. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the need to target young children for obesity prevention. FMS interventions may provide a method to help do so.