Clinical Research Directory

Physical Activity Routines, Education, Assessment, Literacy, and Information Technology Application in Young Children

Engaging in appropriate volumes of physical activity is important to our current and future health status. Being able to develop habits for physical activity during early years of life may have long lasting benefits throughout individuals' life course. For preschool-aged children, the World Health Organization recommends engagement in a range of activity of varying intensities (from light to vigorous intensities) for 180 minutes every day. However, one local study conducted by the Principal Investigator found that only 12.8% of children from Hong Kong met these recommendations. One key contributing factor to physical activity is one's fundamental movement skills (FMS), such as running, jumping, throwing, and kicking. FMS are considered the prerequisites or "building blocks" of many physical activities and sports. In addition to supporting an active lifestyle, researchers have shown that proficiencies in these skills are associated with better cardiovascular fitness and healthier weight statuses. Building children's fundamental movement skills proficiency from a young age is thus important. "Physical Development" is a development objective under the Hong Kong Kindergarten Education Curriculum. Hence all local preschools provide some form of education to develop children's FMS. However, most preschool teachers have not received formal training in physical education, and standardized curricula in the physical domain is currently unavailable. As such, preschool teachers' ability to instruct and assess children's development in these skills may be limited and suboptimal. Parents are significant influencers in children's development, therefore appropriate support from parents also contribute to the potential successes of the programme. In this study, we aim to address the aforementioned challenges by (1) providing preschool teachers professional development training in pedagogical knowledge and methods in the physical domain, (2) creating a set of teaching materials (in printed and digital formats) and methods that could be incorporated into the overall and preschool-based curricula, (3) creating a parental toolkit with contents mirroring the school materials, to enhance parents' knowledge and promote family-school collaboration, and (4) developing a smartphone-based artificial intelligence rating system to help preschool teachers conveniently and accurately assess children's motor skills, and provide appropriate instructional feedback.

Ignite Study of the Jewish Family and Children's Service of the Suncoast, Inc.

The goals of the program are to help struggling fathers and father figures improve the parent-child relationship, sustain healthy marriages and relationships (and help those who are single identify ways to enter into safe and supportive relationships that may ultimately lead to marriage), and identify and support fathers in their economic stability and employment objectives. These outcomes will be achieved through a series of workshops addressing responsible parenting and marriage and relationships as well as a complement of employment services and comprehensive case management. Additional services needed by participants will be identified and provided either through wraparound programming provided by JFCS or through collaborative agreements with local partner agencies. Additionally, Ignite will incorporate a comprehensive employment program combining both job and career advancement.