The Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Preschoolers With Disabilities: Occupational Therapists' Perspectives.
Leah G Taylor, Aidan Loh, Liliana Alvarez and 3 others
PMID 40746084WHAT IT FOUND
Most of the 11 Canadian occupational therapists had never heard of the 24-Hour Movement Guidelines.
Once shown them, they saw the advice as fitting their role, but called the daily hourly targets too rigid for children with disabilities and wanted a flexible resource.
Key findings
01Most therapists were not aware the guidelines existed. Several knew the general idea that movement, sitting and sleep matter and were already addressing those areas in practice, but most did not know the recommended durations.
02Therapists agreed the guidelines were relevant to their role and suited to their current practice, and the main criticism was that the fixed daily targets are too rigid for children with a range of disabilities. The screen time limit of under one hour a day was singled out as unfair to caregivers who use screens for their own needs.
03Confidence and motivation were mixed. Therapists were more confident using the physical activity and sitting recommendations than the sleep recommendation, and some were reluctant to use the guidelines at all for fear of overwhelming families already under stress.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Only 11 therapists took part, all women, all with more than five years in pediatrics and an average of 20 years of experience, all in four provinces. Newer graduates and other parts of Canada are not represented. Participants came from people who had already answered an earlier survey, so those who took part may have been more interested in this topic than most therapists. Interviews were run in English only, which may have kept French-speaking therapists out. The data came from interviews, so participants may have given answers they thought the researchers wanted to hear. This is qualitative work. It reports what these therapists said about the guidelines, not whether following the guidelines changes anything for children.
Declared interests
The paper's funding and conflicts statement lists funding only: the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Canadian Graduate Scholarship-Doctoral, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, and the Dr. Benjamin Goldberg Research Grant through the Developmental Disabilities Division at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University. No commercial sponsor or product maker is named. The funders are research and university bodies rather than a company selling a movement programme.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that the 24-Hour Movement Guidelines are wrong or unusable. Eleven experienced therapists gave their opinions of the guidelines and no children were followed, so the study says nothing about whether the recommendations help or harm the preschoolers your clients are.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →