Evaluation einer komplexen Intervention zur Gesundheitsförderung im Setting Kindergarten

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization, sufficient physical activity (PA) levels from early childhood on are of great importance for health. Objectives of this dissertation were to (1) evaluate different modelling approaches for the estimation of energy expenditure (EE) and different PA intensities from accelerometer data and to (2) evaluate the impact of a day-care centre-based health promotion program on children's habitual PA and motor development. The validity of different modelling approaches estimating EE in early childhood was evaluated. A cluster-controlled study was conducted and linear mixed regression models were applied to assess intervention effects on PA on motor development. Machine learning approaches and traditional linear regression models were equally good at predicting EE. After one year of implementation of the health promotion program, children in the intervention group (IG) showed significant improvements in locomotor skills compared to children in the control group. In the group of children with a migration background, significantly more minutes of PA were found in favour of the IG. The modelling approaches resulting from this work can be recommended for further application in research. This work also showed initial positive findings regarding the effectiveness of a complex public health intervention in the day-care setting.