Preschool-Based Physical Activity Interventions in African American and Latino Preschoolers: A Literature Review
in Kinesiology ReviewClick name to view affiliation
The purpose of this review was to assess the effectiveness of physical activity (PA) interventions in African American and Latino/Hispanic preschool children. A systematic search was conducted for English-language printed research articles published between January 1980 and December 2017. The inclusion criteria for studies in this review were that they were experimental PA studies conducted in the preschool setting in the United States that targeted African American/Black or Latino/Hispanic children between the ages of 2.9 and 5 years. A total of 1,533 articles were located, of which 10 met the inclusion criteria. Overall, studies reported positive changes in preschool-day PA levels, yet only 2 reported significant improvements in total daily PA. Limited scientific literature suggests that preschool-based interventions are effective in improving aspects of PA during the preschool day for children of color. However, minimal evidence exists on the effectiveness of these interventions in changing total daily PA.
The authors are with the Dept. of Kinesiology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA.
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