Tucker et al. BMC Public Health 2011, 11:168 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/168 R E S E A R C H A R T I C L E Open Access The influence of parents and the home environment on preschoolers’ physical activity behaviours: A qualitative investigation of childcare providers’ perspectives Patricia Tucker1*, Melissa M van Zandvoort2, Shauna M Burke3, Jennifer D Irwin3 Abstract Background: Physical activity offers numerous physiological and psychological benefits for young children; however, many preschool-aged children are not engaging in sufficient activity. The home environment, inclusive of parent role modeling, has been identified as influencing preschoolers’ physical activity. This study sought to examine childcare providers’ perspectives of the importance of parents and the home environment for supporting the physical activity behaviours of preschool-aged children (aged 2.5-5 years) attending childcare. Methods: A heterogeneous sample of childcare providers (n = 84; response rate 39%) working at childcare facilities in London, Ontario participated. Thirteen semi-structured focus groups were conducted in London centres between February 2009 and February 2010. Focus groups were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim and inductive content analysis was used to code and classify themes. A number of strategies were used to verify the trustworthiness of the data. Results: Childcare providers acknowledged their reliance on parents/guardians to create a home environment that complements the positive physical activity messaging children may receive in childcare. Moreover, childcare staff highlighted the need for positive parent role modeling and parent support to encourage active healthy lifestyles among young children. Conclusion: This study’s findings highlight the need for increased parent-caregiver partnering in terms of communication and cooperation in service of promoting appropriate amounts of physical activity among London preschoolers. Background Among Canadian preschoolers, obesity rates are disturb- ing; research suggests that between 26 and 30% of young children are overweight or obese [1,2]. The high rate of childhood obesity is disconcerting as obesity has been linked to type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, sleep apnea, and psychological issues [3,4]. The increased incidence is also problematic because individuals who are overweight or obese during childhood are more likely to be obese as adults [5]. Specifically, researchers estimate * Correspondence: ttucker2@uwo.ca 1School of Occupational Therapy, 1201 Western Road, Elborn College, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6G 1H1, Canada Full list of author information is available at the end of the article that overweight preschoolers are four times more likely to be overweight as adults [6]. Physical activity is an important behaviour for young children to adopt as it provides many physiological and psychological health benefits, including preventing obe- sity [4]. However, within Canada, the National Longitudi- nal Survey of Children and Youth indicates that only 36% of 2-3 year olds and 44% of 4-5 year olds participate in sport and physical activity each week [7]. Tucker and Irwin reported a slightly higher participation rate [8], with 55% of London Ontario preschoolers engaging in 60 minutes of physical activity each day. Tucker and Irwin’s participation rates are similar to those found among preschoolers internationally. In a systematic © 2011 Tucker et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.