Movement behaviour education for parents in prenatal, postnatal, and pediatric care in Canada

Background: Parents are highly influential of their child’s movement behaviours. However, they have noted lacking necessary knowledge to foster healthy movement habits. The purpose of this study was to explore the educational background and information needs of parents of young children for promoting healthy movement behaviours.

Methods: Parents living in Canada with a child under the age of 5 years were recruited. Via online survey, participants reported on family demographics, information they received about movement behaviours in early childhood during their prenatal/postnatal care or child’s pediatrician appointments, where they sought information on these topics, topical information they would like more knowledge of, and preferred format for delivery. Descriptive statistics were calculated for all outcome variables and logistic regression was conducted to examine if sociodemographic variables were associated with receiving movement behaviour education across care types.

Results: Parents (n = 576) reported no mention of any movement behaviour in their prenatal (49.4%), postnatal (29.6%), and pediatric care (37.2%). Physical activity was the most cited movement behaviour, with 42.4%, 57.9%, and 54.8% of participants indicating this was discussed in their prenatal, postnatal, and pediatric care, respectively. Only 41.7% of parents reported asking their child’s pediatrician about movement behaviours, while most relied on social media (70.9%), internet websites/news articles (68.7%), and family/friends (67.6%). The most requested movement behaviour topics were incorporating movement into traditionally sedentary activities (68.8%) and activity ideas to break up sitting time (65.0%). Participants preferred to receive movement behaviour information via social media (63.2%), an online resource package (47.8%), or email (46.6%).

Conclusions: Participants had varied movement behaviour education in maternal and pediatric care, as such, an opportunity exists for greater integration across care types. Ensuring all parents receive evidence-based and consistent guidance on their child’s movement behaviours will ensure children have the best start to a healthy active life.