Page 99 - IJPS-10-3

International Journal of
Population Studies Pandemic impacts preschoolers’ movement behaviors

2.2. Setting and participants squares, sidewalks); (ii) on a typical weekend day, how

This study was conducted in João Pessoa, located in the much time does your child spend playing outdoors (streets,
Northeast of Brazil (7.1195°S, 34.8450°W), and data were squares, sidewalks); (iii) on a typical weekday, how much
time does your child spend playing indoors (home, garage,
obtained from 3- to 5-year-old preschoolers who were
registered in public preschools before the pandemic. For service area); and (iv) on a typical weekend day, how much
the purpose of this study, 120 parents of children from time does your child spend playing indoors (home, garage,
three Reference Centers in Early Childhood Education service area). The possible answers include none, <1 h,
and more than 1 h (Larouche et al., 2017). The questions
(CREIs), located in low socioeconomic areas of three
different educational zones that were involved in the main were separately set, targeting outdoor and indoor activities
project were invited to participate in the during-pandemic on weekdays and weekend days, and reintegrated for
phase, through mobile message. The human development analyses. These questions were restructured for the during-
pandemic survey by inserting the term “during pandemic”
index (HDI) of the neighborhoods where CREIs are
located ranges from 0.4 to 0.5. The HDI compares country at the beginning of each sentence to cover the period
indicators in terms of wealth, literacy, education, life during which most families were confined to their houses
expectancy, birth rate, and others to evaluate the well-being due to the lockdown. Parents were invited to answer the
new questions tailored to the pandemic.
of a population, especially children. It varies from zero to
one and is published by the United Nations Development Parents were also asked to recall the total average hours
Program (UNDP) in its annual report. Countries with their child spent sleeping with questions as follows: “on a
HDI up to 0.499 have low human development, and those typical weekday, what time does your child sleep?” and “on
with indexes between 0.50 and 0.799 have medium human a typical weekday, what time does your child wake up?”
development (Souza, 2008). Questions were also separately set for weekends, before and
A total of 40 parents were invited and agreed to during the pandemic, and reintegrated for analysis. Sleep
participate. Of those participating, 50.5% of the mothers or hours were calculated as follows: ([sleep on weekdays × 5]
+ [sleep on weekend days × 2])/7.
fathers were unemployed, and over 71.8% of the mothers
had not finished high school. Sedentary time was determined based on screen time
(TV, tablet, computer, and smartphone) during weekdays
Before the pandemic, the parents were queried about
the 24-h movement behaviors of their children through a and weekends, and a similar procedure was followed.
Parents were firstly asked to answer: “does your child have
face-to-face interview. During the pandemic, parents were access to a TV?” An positive response to this question was
requested to answer a similar pre-pandemic questionnaire followed by a subsequent question: “on a typical weekday,
related to their children’s movement behaviors, with some
adaptations tailored for the pandemic period (inclusion how many hours does your child spend watching TV?” and
“on a typical weekend day, how many hours does she spend
of the term “during pandemic,” before each question), watching TV?” Pandemic-tailored questions concerning
through forms sent through WhatsApp.
sedentary time were then adopted during the pandemic
2.3. Variables period. These questions were set to inquire about the time
spent on all types of screens during the weekdays and the
2.3.1. Sociodemographic variables weekends. For analysis purposes, the total daily hours spent
Demographic data, sex, age, mothers’ educational level, on each type of screen was calculated. The total time on
and residence type (house or apartment) were collected sedentary behavior was calculated as follows: ([screen time
before the pandemic through interviews with preschoolers’ on weekdays × 5] + [screen time on weekend days × 2])/7.
parents at the preschool. During the pandemic, the parents
were asked to answer the same set of questions through 2.4. Statistical analysis
WhatsApp. The sample’s characteristics are presented as absolute
and relative values, stratified before and during the
2.3.2. Movement behaviors
pandemic periods. Concerning the absence of preliminary
The pre-pandemic level of PA among the children was assumptions, such as normal distribution of the dependent
subjectively determined based on parental recollection. variable (outcome) in each group and homogeneity of
Parents were asked to indicate the length of outdoor and variance or sphericity, generalized estimation equations
indoor time spent by their children during weekdays and were used to analyze the time trends of sleep time, screen
weekends; for instance, (i) on a typical weekday, how much time, and outdoor and indoor PA mean values, before and
time does your child spend playing outdoors (streets, during the pandemic. This method gives a robust analysis

Volume 10 Issue 3 (2024) 93 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.0975