This study evaluated "All's Well That Eats Well," a theater production performed in 20 schools in the Twin Cities, Minn., metropolitan area in winter 2000. The production sought to change food-related knowledge and food choices concerning fruits and vegetables among children in grades 1-6. The study used a pretest-posttest design with two randomly-assigned, sequential intervention-control groups (N = 4,093). All students completed surveys prior to and then following the theater production and the classroom and home activities. No differences existed between the groups at pretest. Significant differences occurred in food-related knowledge, food choices, and food recall from pretest to posttest for all students. Significant differences also occurred between intervention groups in food-related knowledge and food choices. The study indicates that professional theater productions in schools can create at least a short-term effect on children's nutrition knowledge and behavior.
Licensed child care providers, and the early care and education settings in which they operate, are uniquely situated to influence children's healthy eating and physical activity through practices, attitudes, and supportive physical and social environments. However, preliminary research indicates that child-, family-, and provider-level characteristics affect adherence to best practices across early care and education settings. The current article used survey data ( n = 618) to characterize differences in child care providers' adherence to nutrition, physical activity, and mealtime best practices, based on child-, family- and provider-level characteristics, and to describe secular trends in adherence to nutrition and physical activity best practices between 2010 and 2016. Results indicate that differences exist across certain characteristics, including child race/ethnicity, family's use of child care assistance, language spoken at home, and provider educational attainment; however, it is notable that in most cases providers serving children of minority race and children in low-income families have a higher rate of compliance with the nutrition and physical activity best practices studied. Additionally, the comparison of adherence to best practices from 2010 to 2016 suggests that, while there was an increase in mean adherence from 2010 to 2016, overall trends in adherence across child-, family- and provider-level characteristics have been consistent across time. Public health professionals should continue to advocate for opportunities for providers to learn how to best incorporate best practices within their setting (e.g., education and training opportunities) as well as for the development and adoption of systems-level changes (e.g., expansion of food assistance programs) to reduce barriers to adherence to best practices.
The goal of the ‘Healthy Start, Healthy State’ study was to describe changes in the implementation of healthy nutrition and physical activity (PA) best practices in early child care and education (ECE) settings from 2010 to 2016. A cohort of 215 Minnesota licensed center- and family/home-based providers completed a survey describing 15 nutrition and 8 PA best practices that they “already do” in 2010 and again in 2016 were analyzed in 2016. There was a significant net implementation rate increase for 15 best practices (10 nutrition, 5 PA) in centers and 12 best practices (8 nutrition, 4 PA) in family/home-based programs. The 2010 nutrition and PA scores were negatively associated with mean change in 2016 indicating the decreased potential for improvement among sites with more best practices already implemented in 2010. Adjusted for 2010 nutrition score and other factors, centers implemented, on average, 1.45 more nutrition best practices from 2010 to 2016 than family/home based programs, and CACFP participating programs implemented, on average, 1.7 more nutrition best practices from 2010 to 2016 than non-CACFP participants. Urbanicity, provider education, and provider years of experience were not significantly associated with 2010–2016 change in nutrition score. The mean PA score change had a small but significant increase for each additional year of provider ECE experience after adjusting for the 2010 score. State-level surveillance of implemented best practices in ECE settings is useful. Findings identify opportunities for stakeholders to respond with targeted technical support and training and to consider potential future policy levers.
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