An Instrument to Assess the Obesogenic Environment of Child Care Centers

Ward, Dianne S.; Hales, Derek; Haverly, Katie; Marks, Julie; Benjamin, Sara E.; Ball, Sarah; Trost, Stewart G.

doi:10.5993/ajhb.32.4.5

Cited by 181 publications

(179 citation statements)

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“…the inclusion of a documented nutrition curriculum); and (viii) nutrition policy (e.g. whether healthier items were encouraged in holiday/celebration food guidelines; see Ward et al (36) for a complete description of each subscale).…”

Section: Environment and Policy Assessment And Observation (Epao) Toolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing the nutrition environment and practices of home- and centre-based child-care facilities

Martyniuk

Vanderloo

Irwin

et al. 2016

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective: To assess and compare the nutrition environment and practices (as they relate to pre-schoolers) of centre-and home-based child-care facilities. Design: Using a cross-sectional study design, nineteen child-care facilities (ten centre-based, nine home-based) were assessed for one full day using the Environment and Policy Assessment and Observation (EPAO) tool (consisting of a day-long observation/review of the nutrition environment, practices and related documents). Specifically, eight nutrition-related subscales were considered. Setting: Child-care facilities in London, Ontario, Canada. Subjects: Child-care facilities were recruited through directors at centre-based programmes and the providers of home-based programmes. Results: The mean total nutrition environment EPAO scores for centre-and homebased facilities were 12·3 (SD 1·94) and 10·8 (SD 0·78) out of 20 (where a higher score indicates a more supportive environment with regard to nutrition), respectively. The difference between the total nutrition environment EPAO score for centre-and home-based facilities was approaching significance (P = 0·055). For both types of facilities, the highest nutrition subscale score (out of 20) was achieved in the staff behaviours domain (centre mean = 17·4; home mean = 17·0) and the lowest was in the nutrition training and education domain (centre mean = 3·6; home mean = 2·0). Conclusions: Additional research is needed to confirm these findings. In order to better support child-care staff and enhance the overall nutrition environment in child care, modifications to food practices could be adopted. Specifically, the nutritional quality of foods/beverages provided to pre-schoolers could be improved, nutrition-related training for child-care staff could be provided, and a nutrition curriculum could be created to educate pre-schoolers about healthy food choices. KeywordsNutrition Child-care environment Pre-school children Child-care staff practices Nutritious diets are integral to children's healthy growth and development (1,2) . Specifically, researchers have demonstrated a clear connection between children's nutrition and both their physical and cognitive health and abilities, inclusive of higher academic performance (3)(4)(5) . It is important for children to develop healthy eating habits at an early age, as research indicates that food preferences and dietary habits established during childhood can impact their habits in later life (6)(7)(8) . During the early years, children's eating practices are highly influenced by others, such as family members, caregivers and/or child-care providers (9) . Given the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity, healthy nutrition practices are a key element to ensuring appropriate growth and wellness (9)(10)(11) .The child-care setting might serve as an ideal venue to initiate the development of pre-schoolers' healthy eating habits and facilitate a positive eating environment. With over half of Canadian pre-schoolers enrolled in child care (12) , coupled with the number o...

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Section: Environment and Policy Assessment And Observation (Epao) Toolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing the nutrition environment and practices of home- and centre-based child-care facilities

Martyniuk

Vanderloo

Irwin

et al. 2016

Public Health Nutr.

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“…Specifically, studies developing and validating environmental audits for other settings (e.g., child care) have not compared audit scores to objectively measured criteria, in this case physical activity. 15,16 Thus, this study represents one of the first attempts to validate an environmental audit with an objective measure. Despite the expected associations of many of the HAPI-PA and HAPI-N items, the presence of these characteristics was insufficient to bring physical activity or the quality of snacks served to a level comparable with existing policies/standards.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6 Although there is growing evidence pointing to the influence of both the social and physical environment on children's physical activity level and nutrition, 12,13 there are a limited number of tools that assess the physical activity and nutritional environment in childcare settings and afterschool programs. [13][14][15][16][17] Moreover, of the existing scales that include physical activity and/or nutrition, none is designed to measure the extent to which the afterschool program environment is aligned with existing physical activity and nutrition policies/standards for afterschool programs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Healthy Afterschool Activity and Nutrition Documentation Instrument

Ajja¹,

Beets²,

Huberty³

et al. 2012

PsycTESTS Dataset

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“…Child Care recommendations for nutrition, physical activity, and screen time, SBM recommends that policymakers consider the following regulations for ECE settings: We also recommend that local and state officials monitor adherence to these regulations using the Let's Move! Child Care or other more comprehensive assessment tools [24].…”

Section: Practice and Public Health Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Society of Behavioral Medicine position statement: early care and education (ECE) policies can impact obesity prevention among preschool-aged children

Buscemi

Kanwischer²,

Becker

et al. 2014

Behav. Med. Pract. Policy Res.

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The Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) urges policymakers to help prevent childhood obesity by improving state regulations for early care and education (ECE) settings related to child nutrition, physical activity, and screen time. More than three quarters of preschoolaged children in the USA attend ECE settings, and many spend up to 40 h per week under ECE care. ECE settings provide meals and snacks, as well as opportunities for increasing daily physical activity and reducing sedentary screen time. However, many states' current policies do not adequately address these important elements of obesity prevention. A growing number of cities and states, child health organizations, medical and early childhood associations, and academic researchers are beginning to identify specific elements of policy and regulations that could transform ECE settings into environments that contribute to obesity prevention. Let's Move! Child Care recommends a set of straightforward regulations addressing nutrition, physical activity, and screen time in ECE settings. These emerging models provide local and state leaders with concrete steps to implement obesity prevention initiatives. We provide a set of recommendations based upon these models that will help state and local policymakers to improve current policies in ECE settings. KEYWORDSEarly care and education, Child care, Obesity, Prevention, Health Policy INTRODUCTIONIn the USA, approximately 76 % of children ages 3-5 years attend early care and education (ECE) [1]. ECE settings include preschools, child care centers, day care homes/family homes, Head Start, and prekindergarten programs. Children of working parents spend nearly 40 h per week in ECE [1]. ECE settings typically provide 1-2 meals and snacks on average per day [2] and also provide opportunities to be physically active and reduce overall screen time. Given that nearly 23 % of American children ages 2-5 years are overweight or obese [3], ECE settings represent an

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An Instrument to Assess the Obesogenic Environment of Child Care Centers

Cited by 181 publications

References 0 publications

Comparing the nutrition environment and practices of home- and centre-based child-care facilities

Comparing the nutrition environment and practices of home- and centre-based child-care facilities

Healthy Afterschool Activity and Nutrition Documentation Instrument

Society of Behavioral Medicine position statement: early care and education (ECE) policies can impact obesity prevention among preschool-aged children

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