Table 3 Practical strategies, their contents and implementation
Intervention level | Practical strategies | Strategy contents | Implementation |
|---|---|---|---|
Preschool | Early educators’ trainings | Intervention aims, timetable, materials and theoretical background Group discussions on intervention implementation Manuals were distributed, and their contents were scrutinized Based on MindUp™ training | Before the intervention started, all early educators participated in 5–5.5-h training; at the halfway point of the intervention, the early educators participated in an additional 2.5–3-h training |
Manuals | Short theoretical introduction to the contents of the theme Activity ideas to do with children at preschool Connection of the theme and activities to the national core curriculum for early education and care Materials that should be distributed to parents during the theme period | One manual for each theme (altogether five themes) was distributed during the training sessions | |
Meeting with preschool managers | Informal meeting aiming to recognize the problems that preschools might have with programme implementation Meeting informed the researchers how each of the preschools preferred the mentoring visits to be organized | Was organized 2 weeks after early educators’ trainings; managers from all intervention preschools gathered together in the town hall where the meeting was held | |
Mentoring visits | Varied slightly according to the needs/wishes of the early educators and manager: either an organized meeting with early educators and manager or free discussion only with early educators in each group about how the intervention implementation had started | Were organized 2–3 weeks after the intervention start at the preschools | |
Booster e-mails with pedagogical tips | Reminder that a new theme was supposed to be started at preschools Additional practical activity ideas about how the theme could be discussed with children at preschool | Were sent at the beginning of each new theme | |
Preschool and family | Activity afternoons | Included activities that were related to the ongoing theme and that parents could do together with their children; all activities were such that the children had practiced the things at preschool before the afternoon and could show their parents how to do the activities | Were organized at preschools by early educators; one activity for each EBRB theme |
Family | Educational letter | General information on target behaviour of the theme: how the behaviour benefits health, increases skills and supports family life Tips for how to perform behaviour (e.g. increase PA as a family, increase fruit and vegetable consumption, decrease sugar intake, regulate children’s screen use) Information on the recommendations and normative information on the behaviours on average (e.g. average screen time or fruit and vegetable consumption of the study participants) Normative information on how other parents on average try to support the health behaviour in question | Were distributed to parents in paper through the preschool; one for each theme |
DAGIS e-mails | Included links to existing materials on the internet regarding the theme that was ongoing at that moment Two of the e-mails included video clips related to the theme | Were sent to families through the preschool; one for each theme | |
Personal feedback | Personal feedback on child’s EBRBs based on the baseline measurements; alongside personal results, the averages of the study cohort were presented | Were sent directly to participants by researchers; one for each theme | |
Map application | A map application where: Children and parents could tag their favourite places to be physically active and that they would recommend to other families Early educators could tag activity places where the group had visited during the preschool day and share the places with parents Early educators could create orienteering maps for themselves as well as for other groups | Was presented to parents by early educators during the screen-time-related theme | |
Family and child | Bingo board | Bingo board including fun activities that parents and children could try together at home | Were distributed to parents as a part of the educational letter |
Child | MindUp™ curriculum | The curriculum aims to develop self-awareness, self-management, and self-regulation through attention awareness practices and lessons. Several activities include physical activity and eating (Maloney et al. 2016) (e.g. children were taught how the brain works by using fictive animal figures, and being mindful in their physical activity) | Was implemented in the preschool groups |
Activities related to EBRBs | Sensory-based activities and other activities related to fruit and vegetables Games and other activities (e.g. physically active Christmas calendar) to increase PA | Were implemented in the preschool groups | |
Two storybooks | One of the storybooks was about the balance between inactivity and PA; the other storybook was about being brave with tasting food. At preschool, the stories were meant to be read with the whole group and adjusted for the group’s age; both stories included pictures, which made it possible to go through the stories using only the pictures | Were distributed to each preschool group as well as every family; family storybooks were attached to their educational letters |