Confident and Understanding Parents (CUPs) – a child nutrition and active play pilot intervention for disadvantaged families attending Supported Playgroups in Victoria, Australia

Abstract

Issue addressed Health and nutrition inequalities are prevalent among families from socio‐economically disadvantaged backgrounds. However, there is limited evidence of targeted early childhood nutrition and active play approaches due to the methodological challenges in engaging vulnerable families in research. Methods The aim of this paper was to report findings from a pilot intervention called Confident and Understanding Parents (CUPs). CUPs aims to improve child nutrition and active play‐related outcomes for children in vulnerable families. The intervention was delivered in six Supported Playgroups (SPs) in two disadvantaged locations in Victoria. Surveys incorporated knowledge and confidence measures and were administered pre‐ and post‐training of SP facilitators along with pre‐, immediately post and and 3 months postintervention to SP facilitators and parents. Qualitative data were collected via debriefing discussions with SP facilitators and ethnographic observations during SP sessions. Thematic analyses of qualitative data and statistical quantitative analyses were conducted. Results Nine SP facilitators completed training, of whom six delivered CUPs in SPs with 64 parents of children aged 0 to 4 years from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. Forty‐three parents (66%) attended a minimum of 50% of SP sessions with CUPs delivery. SP facilitators and parents demonstrated improved knowledge and confidence following the pilot. Learnings for implementation were identified. Conclusion Overall, the CUPs intervention reached and engaged vulnerable families. A strength of the intervention is the flexibility offered to SP facilitators in selecting key messages and the strong focus on “local” translation of key child nutrition and active play messages within existing early childhood settings. A further strength was the adaptation of evaluation methodology to optimise the engagement of vulnerable families. So what? This pilot study provides insights about engaging vulnerable families in a nutrition and active play intervention to promote child health. These promising findings warrant further implementation and rigorous evaluation of CUPs.

Supporting parents and healthy behaviours through parent-child meetings – a qualitative study in the Netherlands

“…This also applies to playgroups in the Netherlands, which offer structured and unstructured play experiences for children and provide opportunities for parents and their children to connect and socialize, but focus less on healthy behaviours. While this structure and the relaxed setting of playgroups provide a unique opportunity to support parents in their practices regarding health-related behaviours, there are limited interventions targeting such behaviour in these settings and most of them focus on promoting physical activity or nutrition [ 35 , 38 , 67 , 68 ]. A previous study among parents in Australia identified barriers to and facilitators of the development of a potential childhood obesity prevention programme, with a broader focus on lifestyle domains which could be delivered in community playgroups [ 31 ].…”

Prescribing physical activity and nutrition

“…Nicola Wiseman, Christin Rossmann, Jessica Lee and Neil Harris explore the world of the pre‐school child through the innovative approach of drawing to determine their physical activity preferences. Judith Myers and colleagues report on the findings of a pilot intervention to improve nutrition and active play in young children (0‐4 years). Isaac Addo and co‐authors talk with sub‐Saharan African people to determine the influences on diet and physical activity post‐migration, while Jenny Olsen and colleagues investigate the physical activity behaviours of the peri‐urban populations through a socio‐ecological lens, and a whole of community physical activity and social engagement program shows promising outcomes …”