Physical Literacy and
the health and well-being
of populations
PHYSICAL LITERACY, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY & POPULATION HEALTH
WHY EARLY LIFE AND EARLY
INTERVENTION ARE SO IMPORTANT
A LIFE COURSE PERSPECTIVE ON NCD'S, POPULATION HEALTH AND CRITICAL HEALTH LITERACY FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
Mark Hanson, Professor at University of Southampton
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PHYSICAL LITERACY AND
HEALTHY MOVEMENT AMONGST
CHILDREN AND YOUTH
CURRENT EVIDENCE FROM CANADA
Mark Tremblay, Professor and Senior Scientist,
Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research,
CHEO Research Institute
PHYSICAL LITERACY
THROUGHOUT THE LIFE COURSE WHAT DO WE NEED TO BE AWARE
OF WHEN ‘USING’ PHYSICAL LITERACY AS A MEANS TO
HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
Margaret Whitehead, Professor at University of Bedfordshire
PHYSICAL LITERACY, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY & POPULATION HEALTH
The burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is a massive and rising problem within public health. Across the life span, there is clear evidence of the health benefits of physical activity (PA), which are also understood as important when battling NCDs. Viewing the NCD epidemic and PA as part of the solution through a life course perspective, collectively points to the importance of making sustainable behavioral changes early with children. In addition, in particularly in regard to the increasing obesity among children globally. However, the perspective also sheds light on why it is important to identify factors that facilitate individuals staying active throughout their entire lifespan through childhood into adulthood. Ample empirical evidence supports that extrinsic motives for participating in PAs, such as increasing health, are insufficient when long-term participation is the goal. This means that public health interventions should not blindly target the factors and behaviors that are crucial for adult health, such as PA, but move towards intervening on the causes of the causes.
Thus, the overall objective for this webinar is to present and discus howphysical literacy (PL) has the potential of being a cause of the causes. The webinar argue that PL should be a target for prevention and health promotion research and interventions, in particular with children (and maybe parents). Looking across the life span, investment in developing PL in childhood is important for later PA behavior. A key consideration for policymakers may be to ensure possibilities for the development of future motor competencies (MC), for youth that are broad and diverse. However, such possibilities are often challenged by parents and societies desire for early specialization in sport and exercise habits. At the webinar, it will be discussed how adopting a life course perspective leads to a solution of investing in children, and how investing in children’s PL is a far better investment compared to investing in an immediate increase in children’s PA. It will be discussed how PL can be a target for prevention and health promotion interventions, and how such interventions holds broad and sustainable potentials for life-long participation in health-enhancing PA. Finally, what consequences for future research and intervention development this has
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
MARK HANSON
Professor Mark Hanson is British Heart Foundation Professor of Cardiovascular Science within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton.
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Hanson is one of the UK’s leading researchers on developmental pathways to disease. He has served on a range of committees in government, charitable and NGOs focusing on the importance of adopting lifecourse perspective to new ways of reducing the burden of non-communicable disease globally.
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Hanson has published more than 400 scientific papers and 14 books books. His research concerns several aspects of development and health, ranging from how the environment before and after birth affects the risk of chronic disease – such as cardiovascular and chronic lung disease, diabetes and obesity – to population studies aimed at the early identification of risk, so that timely preventative interventions can be made. The group are exploring the epigenetic processes which relate to such risks, and which may serve as valuable early life biomarkers
Mark Tremblay
Professor Tremblay is a senior scientist with the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research (HALO) Research Group at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute and Professor of Pediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa.
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He is a Fellow of the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, President of the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, Founder of the Sedentary Behaviour Research Network, Chair of Outdoor Play Canada, and Adjunct/Visiting Professor at five other universities on four continents.
Tremblay has published more than 500 scientific papers and book chapters in the areas of childhood obesity, physical activity measurement, exercise physiology, sedentary physiology, outdoor play and health surveillance.
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Tremblay has received several honorary doctorates and awards for his leadership contributions to healthy active living in Canada and around the world.
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Margaret Whitehead
​Professor Margaret Whitehead is a Visiting Professor at the University of Bedfordshire. Having trained to teach physical education and taught in school. Margaret lectured in pedagogy and has contributed to numerous books on the teaching of physical education.
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She is the founder and Honorary President of the International Physical Literacy Association. Author of Physical Literacy Throughout the Life Course.
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She completed her PhD in 1987 and after retiring from full time work in 2000 she returned to her research and developed the concept of physical literacy. She has written and travelled widely to promote the concept.
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