CHILD PHYSICAL ACTIVITY – 2 TO 4 YEARS (NON-REMOTE AREAS)

Definition

The National Physical Activity Recommendations for children cover two components, physical activity and sedentary behaviour (screen-based activity). This topic focuses on the collection of physical activity data.

The current National Physical Activity Recommendations for 0-5 year olds recommend at least three hours of physical activity every day, either in a single block or spread throughout the day. For this survey, 5 year olds are not included with the 2-4 year olds.

To assess against this recommendation for the 2-4 years age group, this topic covers the following components of physical activity:

• outdoor active play or other physical activity which may include throwing a ball, walking, running around, free play in playgrounds or sandpits, helping in the garden, swimming, riding a tricycle or bicycle, or any other outdoor activity that involves movement
• indoor physical activity or active play which may include dancing, jumping, 'rough and tumble', tidying up, helping to set the table, or any other indoor activity that involves movement.

As per the national recommendations for this age group, physical activity does not need to be of a particular intensity and includes anything that involves movement.

Population

Information was collected for children aged 2 to 4 years in non-remote areas in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (NATSINPAS).

Methodology

The collection methodology of this module relied on the recall of an adult proxy on behalf of their selected child, and did not make use of a diary or other form of recording activities.

To assess against the National Physical Activity Recommendations, respondents were asked a series of questions about the physical activity their child had undertaken. In order to measure against recommendations that are based on meeting daily targets, questions were asked for each day in the three days prior to interview. It was suggested to proxies (persons responding on behalf of the child) that they may find it easier to think of what they themselves were doing on each day (for example, at work, doing gardening or chores, visiting friends, etc.) and during those times what arrangements were made for the child or what the child was doing.

For each day respondents were asked about the total time spent (hours and minutes) doing the following activities:

• outdoor active play or other physical activity
• indoor active play or other physical activity.

This information was used to calculate whether a child met the physical activity recommendation by summing outdoor and indoor physical activity undertaken on each day. A child was considered to have met the physical activity recommendation for a given day if their activity totalled 180 minutes or more.

Day representation and recall

With data being collected on a three day rather than seven day basis, even representation of data across a week is not possible as a result of interview days not being evenly spread across a week.

Day of reported physical activity	Number of NATSINPAS respondents n=145
Monday	78
Tuesday	69
Wednesday	61
Thursday	40
Friday	42
Saturday	62
Sunday	83

Analysis of average time spent on physical activity on a weekend day versus a weekday identified no significant difference between the two. However, this result may be influenced by the overall sample size for this age group as well as the size of the sample who reported weekend days (58% of the NATSINPAS 2-4 year old sample reported a weekend day).

Analysis identified no recall drop-off between day 1 and day 3.

Data Items

The data items and related output categories for this topic are available in Excel spreadsheet format from the Downloads page of this product.

Interpretation

Points to be considered in interpreting data for this topic include the following:

• The collection of this information involved respondent recall and is "as reported" by respondents. It therefore reflects the respondent's perception of activities undertaken.
• Accuracy of responses may vary with the proximity of the reporting day to the interview day. Analysis of data for 2-4 year olds by order of days reported indicated that there is no significant difference between the days for physical activity reported, although this may be influenced by the difficulty in reporting physical activity for this age group.
• Accuracy of responses may vary depending on proxy’s awareness of a child’s activities when they were not present (for example, activities during the day for a child in child care).
• There has been an increasing emphasis on the importance of physical activity for children in recent years. This may have introduced bias with the reporting of socially desirable responses in some instances.
• The sample size for this age group is small as it was only collected in the NATSINPAS, and data should therefore be used with caution.
• Physical activity and the guidelines/recommendations for physical activity were defined differently for different age groups. This should be taken into account if comparing 2-4 and 5-17 year old physical activity data.
• As the data is based on a three day recall, day of week analysis should be undertaken with care. Weekend versus weekday comparisons are not recommended as a result of the low proportion of respondents who reported a weekend day.

Comparability with other surveys

The questions comprising this topic have not previously been collected in an ABS Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population survey.

Due to the difficulties with collection of physical activity information for this age group, there are minimal other sources of data available on this topic. The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children has collected a small amount of physical activity data for this age group related to indoor and outdoor play. However this data is not considered comparable to the NATSINPAS.

Comparability with 2004–05 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS)

Physical activity data for children 2–4 years was not collected in the 2004-05 NATSIHS. Therefore no comparisons are possible.

Comparability with 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS)

The 2008 NATSISS collected data for part of this age group - 3 and 4 year olds - on attendance at sporting events in the last 12 months, attendance/participation in sporting activities in the last 3 months and the frequency of attendance. In addition, for 4 year olds, the number of days in a week period they were physically active for at least 60 minutes was collected as well as participating in organised sport in a 12 month period and 2 week period.

Given the difference in question reference periods, and the questions are conceptually different to those collected for this age group in the NATSINPAS, no comparisons are considered appropriate.

Comparability with 2011-12 Australian Health Survey (AHS)

The questions used for the 2012-13 NATSINPAS were based on those used in the 2011-12 National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (NNPAS). The main difference being the reference period, with NNPAS collecting data on each of the seven days prior to interview, compared to the three days prior to interview in NATSINPAS.

NNPAS data identified a similar trend in reporting days to NATSINPAS when limited to the three days prior to interview. Therefore, NATSINPAS data are considered to be comparable to NNPAS, when the NNPAS data is restricted to the three days prior to interview.

Physical activity data for 2-4 year olds was not collected in the 2011-12 National Health Survey (NHS) or 2012-13 NATSIHS. Therefore no comparisons are possible with these surveys.

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