McGarty, Arlene, Jones, Nathalie, Rutherford, Katie, Westrop, Sophie ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3776-0543, Sutherland, Lara, Jahoda, Andrew and Melville, Craig (2021) Feasibility of the Go2Play Active Play intervention for increasing physical and social development in children with intellectual disabilities. Pilot and Feasibility Studies, 7 (43).

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Abstract

Introduction: An active play is designed to increase children’s physical activity levels and fundamental movement skills through outdoor play and is well-suited to the needs of children with intellectual disabilities. However, no active play interventions have included children with intellectual disabilities. This study aims to investigate the feasibility of a school-based active play intervention for children with intellectual disabilities. Method: Children aged 7–12 years who had intellectual disabilities and were independently ambulatory were eligible. This single-group 17-week intervention was implemented in two additional support needs schools. It consisted of a weekly 1-h active play session incorporating 30 min of structured games and 30 min of free play. Feasibility of recruitment/retention, adherence, and outcome measures were investigated. Outcome measures included school-based physical activity (ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometer), fundamental movement skills (Test of Gross Motor Development-2), and social interactions (Playground Observation of Peer Engagement). Staff feedback was collected via open-ended questionnaire. Feasibility was investigated using descriptive statistics and questionnaire data analyzed using thematic analysis. Potential pre-post changes were investigated for school-based physical activity, fundamental movement skills, and social interactions using paired samples t tests. The progression criteria were (1) > 50% of eligible participants recruited, (2) > 50% of recruited participants retained, (3) > 50% of active play sessions spent in MVPA, and (4) > 50% of participants complete outcome measurements. Results: All progression criteria were met. Recruitment and retention rates were 100% (n=21 participants). Intervention adherence was high, based on data from n=1 school, with 90% of participants attending all sessions. Measuring physical activity using accelerometry and fundamental movement skills using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 were feasible. The Playground Observation of Peer Engagement tool to measure social interactions was not feasible. The only significant increase post-intervention was for social interactions during structured play (pre–post mean difference: –1.46, 95% CI −1.99, −0.93). Staff feedback was positive with the intervention well received by schools and potential benefits post-intervention identified by teachers. Conclusion: The Go2Play Active Play intervention is feasible for children with intellectual disabilities. Future research should further investigate feasibility and implementation on a larger scale using a pilot cluster randomised controlled trial.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	Published
DOI:	10.1186/s40814-021-00783-6
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
School/Department:	School of Education, Language and Psychology
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/9608

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