Evaluation of the Dissemination of the South African 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Birth to 5 Years.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2021 ; 18: .
Draper CE, Silubonde TM, Mukoma G, van Sluijs EMF
DOI : 10.3390/ijerph18063071
PubMed ID : 33802649
PMCID : PMC8002461
URL : https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/6/3071
Abstract
South Africa (SA) launched their 24-h movement guidelines for birth to five years in December 2018. The guideline dissemination plan adopted a "train-the-trainer" strategy through dissemination workshops with community-based organisations (CBOs) working in early childhood development. The aim of this paper is to: (1) document this dissemination process; and (2) report on the feasibility of implementing the dissemination workshops, the acceptability of the workshops (and guidelines) for different end-user groups, and the extent to which CBO representatives disseminated the guidelines to end-users. Fifteen workshops were held in seven of SA's nine provinces with a total of 323 attendees. Quantitative and qualitative findings ( = 281) indicate that these workshops were feasible for community-based dissemination of the guidelines and that this method of dissemination was acceptable to CBOs and end-users. Findings from follow-up focus groups (6 groups, = 28 participants) indicate that the guidelines were shared with end-users of CBOs who participated in the focus groups. An additional musical storytelling resource, the "Woza, Mntwana" song, was well-received by participants; sharing via WhatsApp was believed to be the most effective way to disseminate this song. These findings confirm the feasibility and acceptability of culturally appropriate and context-specific community-based dissemination of behavioural guidelines in low-income settings.
Lay Summary
Engaging in regular physical activity, reducing screen time and getting enough sleep is important for young children’s development. To reflect this importance, South Africa launched their 24-h movement guidelines for birth to five years in December 2018 (https://www.laureus.co.za/moving-playing-sleeping-starting-early-with-healthy-habits/). In addition to developing and publishing the guidelines it is important to make sure they effectively reach those who work with and care for young children. The South-African 24-h movement guidelines were distributed using a “train-the-trainer” approach whereby researchers led workshops with community-based organisations (CBOs) working in early childhood development. In this paper, we aimed to (1) document this dissemination process; and (2) report on the feasibility of implementing the workshops, the acceptability of the workshops (and guidelines) for different users, and the extent to which CBO workers communicated the guidelines to others. Fifteen workshops were held in seven of SA’s nine provinces; 323 CBO workers attended. Afterwards they completed a questionnaire and took part in discussion groups. The results showed that 1) the workshops were practical for disseminating the guidelines to the community, and 2) that this approach was acceptable to CBOs and carers. We also found that the CBO workers shared the guidelines effectively with carers. An additional musical storytelling resource, the “Woza, Mntwana” song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E11vCWPhxNk&t=2s), was well-received by CBO workers. They suggested that sharing this via WhatsApp would be the most effective way to distribute this song. The findings from this study show that it is feasible and acceptable to use a culturally appropriate and context-specific community-based strategy to the distribution of behavioural guidelines in low-income settings.