Assessment of Nutrition Knowledge of Childcare Providers Regarding the Implementation of the 2017 CACFP Meal Pattern Update

Abstract

Background: With the release of 2017 Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) meal pattern, states need to determine knowledge gaps in order to develop targeted training materials and resources to aid childcare providers in achieving new regulations. Purpose: To assess the nutrition knowledge of childcare providers in regards to the implementation of the 2017 CACFP meal pattern. Methods: Convenience sampling, where CACFP participants (n = 398) completed a self-reported survey at the annual mandatory trainings across the state of Nebraska, was employed in this study. Descriptive statistics including frequencies, means, standard deviations, independent sample t tests, and chi-square tests were used to determine differences in nutrition knowledge by geographical location, for-profit and nonprofit, and program settings. Results: Data obtained from this study indicate that CACFP participants scored low on questions regarding yogurt (30%), juice (35%), breakfast cereal (37%), and whole grain (43%) questions. Data also show that there was no significant difference in levels of digitalcommons.unl.edu

Nutrition Knowledge and Perspectives of Physical Activity for Pre-Schoolers amongst Early Childhood Education and Care Teachers

“…ECEC teachers’ knowledge about nutrition and physical activity for pre-schoolers (2–5-year-olds) remains relatively unreported. Most studies have been conducted amongst ECEC teachers in the US [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ], who likely differ from those living in other countries in regard to ethnic and educational background; for example, important New Zealand ethnic groups (e.g., Māori, Pacific peoples, and Asian) are not distinguished amongst US ECEC teachers [ 34 ]. Acknowledging the effects of these variables are important with studies showing that ethnic [ 26 ] and educational backgrounds affect nutrition knowledge [ 28 , 33 ].…”

Participation in the CACFP Ensures Availability but not Intake of Nutritious Foods at Lunch in Preschool Children in Child-Care Centers

“…12 CACFP provides nutritious meals and snacks to more than 4.2 million children daily, improving the overall nutrition environment of the child-care centers through updating and mandating policies regarding foods, beverages, and nutrition practices in child-care centers. [12][13][14] The updated CACFP requirements for the participating child-care centers aims to ensure availability of both fruits and vegetables during lunches and dinner, less exposure to fruit juices and sugar restrictions in yogurt and breakfast cereals. 12 The CACFP best practices are intended to be recommendations for the child-care providers, which include providing at least two servings of whole grains per day, not serving processed meats more than once per week, incorporating fruits or vegetables in snacks, eliminating all sugar-sweetened beverages and juices, serving family-style meals, and serving low-fat or natural cheeses.…”

The Development of a Psychometrically Valid and Reliable Questionnaire to Assess Nutrition Knowledge Related to Pre-Schoolers

“…A first step for providing this support is to accurately identify knowledge deficits, in which using a valid and reliable ECEC teacher nutrition and physical activity knowledge questionnaire is useful. The current range of ECEC teacher nutrition and physical activity knowledge questionnaires that demonstrate at least construct and content validity are relatively out-of-date (ranging from 1972-2010) [9][10][11][12], mostly related to US teachers [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], and/or often include content that is not specific to pre-schoolers' nutrition nor physical activity [11,17,18,21]. Other knowledge questionnaires focusing on the diet of young children have been used to assess parental knowledge, but these are limited in scope, lack validity, and feature items that are overly specialised, for example, asking parents to decide if the following statement is correct: "If one should pay attention to the weight of a pre-schooler, it is preferable to substitute potatoes by rice and pasta" [22,23].…”

“…Other knowledge questionnaires focusing on the diet of young children have been used to assess parental knowledge, but these are limited in scope, lack validity, and feature items that are overly specialised, for example, asking parents to decide if the following statement is correct: "If one should pay attention to the weight of a pre-schooler, it is preferable to substitute potatoes by rice and pasta" [22,23]. Through a semi-structured literature review of caregivers' nutrition knowledge, we identified only four [9,10,12,24] of 15 studies used nutrition/physical activity knowledge questionnaires that showed content and construct validity; four were partially validated (no construct validity) [16,19,20,25], and the remaining seven [13][14][15]17,18,21,26] either did not describe validation methods or did not appear to be validated. These characteristics may have limited the quality of evidence for ECEC teachers' nutrition knowledge.…”