4.2. Implications
movement behaviors
This research has compelling implications for both policy and practice. Our findings suggest that a gardening intervention within childcare will indeed nudge PA upward and reduce sedentary time. With intervention work, it is important to consider the potential accumulated effects of small changes over time. A 5–10% daily increase can seem trivial (e.g., 3 min/day), but if it persists, can quickly add up. For example, our results suggest that in an average childcare day (~8 h), a gardening intervention might add 6 MVPA minutes and reduce sedentary time by 16 min/day compared to the rates in centers with no gardens. Over the course of the 4-month intervention period, children attending centers with gardens may accumulate 8 additional hours of MVPA (6 min/day ∗ 80 days) and 21+ fewer hours of sedentary time. While the duration of outdoor time was not measured, changes in MVPA and sedentary time are likely related to increased time outdoors [The findings regarding the roles of age and sex as moderators of the relationship between gardening and children’s MVPA and sedentary time are important for both clinical implementation and research design/testing. If educators or extension agents are aware that programs function better for a given group, modifications can be implemented to improve the impact for all. Or, programs can be targeted toward those for whom they are most effective, maximizing efficiencies. In future work, we plan to examine the consistency of these effects and their potential causes in more detail. Teacher behavior and differences in activity choices may play a role in these moderating effects. The addition of direct observation and staff reporting may help identify unexplored influences on children’s movement behaviors.