Relationship between curriculum-based intervention and fundamental movement skills among preschoolers: A systematic literature review

Abstract

Fundamental movement skills (FMS) are positively correlated with academic achievement, psychology, and participation in physical activities. However, many children‘s FMS are insufficient, which highlights the need for intervention. The study is aimed at investigating the influence of curriculum foundation intervention on the development of children's FMS and related influencing factors. We systematically reviewed the peer-reviewed articles published across 6 databases (Sport discus, Cochrane Library, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Web of Science) on curriculum-based interventions for fundamental movement skills, typically among developing children aged 3-6 years. The risk of bias within the study was assessed using the Quality Assessment and Validity Tool for Correlational Studies (QAVTCS). A total of 14 articles that met the criteria were included, with 1849 participants from across five countries. About 92.9% of the studies reported a significant improvement in the children's FMS after the intervention. Besides the research report on the instruction strategy, teacher experience, gender, and delivery quality influenced the intervention effect of the children's FMS. In future studies, a more rigorous control design, rich theoretical framework, multi-site study, and different perspectives are needed to identify more influencing factors with regards to intervention and an improvement in the efficacy of the intervention.