The Model of Children's Active Travel (M-CAT): A conceptual framework for examining factors influencing children's active travel

Background: The current decline in children's participation in physical activity has attracted the attention of those concerned with children's health and wellbeing. A sustainable approach to ensuring children engage in adequate amounts of physical activity is to support their involvement in incidental activity such as active travel (AT), which includes walking or riding a bicycle to or from local destinations, such as school or a park. Understanding how we can embed physical activity into children's everyday occupational roles is a way in which occupational therapists can contribute to this important health promotion agenda. Aims: To present a simple, coherent and comprehensive framework as a means of examining factors influencing children's AT. Methods: Based on current literature, this conceptual framework incorporates the observable environment, parents' perceptions and decisions regarding their children's AT, as well as children's own perceptions and decisions regarding AT within their family contexts across time. Conclusion: The Model of Children's Active Travel (M-CAT) highlights the complex and dynamic nature of factors impacting the decision-making process of parents and children in relation to children's AT. The M-CAT offers a way forward for researchers to examine variables influencing active travel in a systematic manner. Future testing of the M-CAT will consolidate understanding of the factors underlying the decision-making process which occurs within families in the context of their communities.