About

Outdoor play is fundamental for children’s development as it can promote healthy social and physical development, emotional wellbeing, self-confidence, risk management and overall physical activity. Yet opportunities for children’s outdoor play have been decreasing across generations, in part because of parental concerns about safety.

We developed an online educational too for parents on Outside Play [LINK: https://outsideplay.ca], to help them rethink their approach to children’s outdoor risky play. The app includes behaviour change theory and techniques to encourage self-reflection and a shift in parent’s attitudes and approaches to parenting.

We also examined the effectiveness of this app in changing mothers’ tolerance for children’s risky play and providing risky play opportunities. A total of 451 mothers of children aged 6-12 years participated in our randomized controlled trial between December 1, 2017 and June 18, 2018. We found that the GPO education app was effective and had a sustained effect in increasing mothers’ tolerance of risk in children’s play.

Funding information

Generously supported by the Lawson Foundation 2015-2018

Resources

Brussoni, M., Han, C.S., Lin, Y., Jacob, J., Pike, I., Bundy, A., Faulkner, G., Gardy, J., Fisher, B., & Mâsse, L. (2021). A Web-Based and In-Person Risk Reframing Intervention to Influence Mothers’ Tolerance for, and Parenting Practices Associated With, Children’s Outdoor Risky Play: Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR, 23(4), e24861. [link]

Brussoni, M., Ishikawa, T., Han, C., Pike, I., Faulkner, G., & Mâsse, L.C. (2018). Go play outside! Effects of a risk reframing tool on mothers’ tolerance for and parenting practices associated with children’s risky play – a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials, 19, 173. DOI: 10.1186/s13063-018-2552-4. [link]