Childhood obesity is a major epidemic in the United States with one in four preschool children being overweight or obese (CDC 2018). Five-year-old children who are overweight are four times more likely to become obese by eighth grade than normal weight children (Cunningham et al. 2014). This trend continues into adulthood and is associated
Early childhood obesity is at epidemic proportions and is a major risk factor for the development of chronic diseases in adulthood. Since the majority of preschoolers are placed in center-based care, best practice policy, system, and environment (PSE) changes in early child care settings plays an important role in defining early development of obesogenic behaviors. However, implementation of best practice PSE changes is often a challenge in low resource settings due to staff turnover, time constraints, cultural beliefs, and lack of health-related knowledge. Assess, Identify, Make it Happen for Preschools (AIM-P) is a strategic planning process that was used with wellness teams in early child care centers to implement PSE changes that support adoption of health behaviors. AIM-P uses key change-making strategies based on intervention mapping including assets and needs assessments, prioritization of changes based on importance and feasibility, development of action steps and action plans, and identification of dissemination and sustainability plans. The AIM-P process resulted in implementation of 6.5 best practice PSE changes per site. Qualitative findings highlight lessons learned and the facilitators and barriers associated with using AIM-P to implement PSEs.
Objective:
The primary objective of this study was to evaluate quality of work life in early childhood education (ECE) centers and implement a total worker health (TWH) pilot project with a small sample of ECE teachers.
Methods:
An evidence-based strategic planning process to make policy, system, and environmental (PSE) changes related to TWH was implemented with six ECE centers. A pre-post design with mixed-methods was used to evaluate the impact.
Results:
Baseline findings suggest that there are significant disparities related to quality of work life among ECE teachers compared with the national population. After implementation of the pilot project, ECE centers averaged 4.7 PSE changes. Qualitative data informed facilitators and barriers to implementation of TWH-related changes.
Conclusions:
This pilot project reflects an evidence-based participatory approach to assessing and improving the well-being of ECE teachers.
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