TY - JOUR
T1 - Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Benchmarks for Nutrition in Child Care 2011
T2 - Are Child-Care Providers across Contexts Meeting Recommendations?
AU - Dev, Dipti A.
AU - McBride, Brent A.
AU - Harrison, Kristen
AU - Bost, Kelly
AU - McBride, Brent
AU - Donovan, Sharon
AU - Grigsby-Toussaint, Diana
AU - Liechty, Janet
AU - Wiley, Angela
AU - Teran-Garcia, Margarita
AU - Fiese, Barbara
N1 - Funding Information:
FUNDING/SUPPORT This research was funded, in part, by grants from the US Department of Health and Human Services , Administration of Children and Families/Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (grant no. 90YR0052 ) and the Illinois Trans-Disciplinary Obesity Prevention Program Seed Grant Program to the lead authors. The larger longitudinal study from which child-care centers were recruited was funded, in part, by grants from the Illinois Council for Food and Agricultural Research , the University of Illinois Health and Wellness Initiative , and the US Department of Agriculture (Hatch 793-328 ).
PY - 2013/10
Y1 - 2013/10
N2 - The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (Academy) recommends feeding practices for child-care providers to establish nutrition habits in early childhood to prevent obesity. With >12 million US children in child care, little is known about child-care providers' feeding practices. The purpose of this study was to examine child-care providers' feeding practices to assess whether providers met the Academy's benchmarks and whether attainment of benchmarks varied across child-care contexts (Head Start, Child and Adult Care Food Program [CACFP], and non-CACFP). Cross-sectional data was collected in 2011 and 2012 from 118 child-care providers who completed self-administered surveys regarding their feeding practices for 2- to 5-year-old children. χ2 tests and analysis of variance were used to determine variation across contexts. Head Start providers sat more frequently with children during meals (P=0.01), ate the same foods as children (P=0.001), and served meals family style (P<0.0001) more often compared with CACFP and non-CACFP providers. Head Start providers (P=0.002), parents (P=0.001), and children (P=0.01) received more nutrition-education opportunities compared with CACFP and non-CACFP. Head Start providers encouraged more balance and variety of foods (P<0.05), offered healthier foods (P<0.05), modeled healthy eating (P<0.001), and taught children about nutrition (P<0.001) compared with CACFP and non-CACFP providers. Providers across all three contexts used significantly more non-internal than internal mealtime verbal comments (P<0.0001). Head Start providers had greater compliance with the Academy's benchmarks compared with CACFP and non-CACFP providers. Possible reasons for this compliance might be attributed to Head Start nutrition performance standards and increased nutrition-training opportunities for Head Start staff. Head Start programs can serve as a model in implementing the Academy's benchmarks.
AB - The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (Academy) recommends feeding practices for child-care providers to establish nutrition habits in early childhood to prevent obesity. With >12 million US children in child care, little is known about child-care providers' feeding practices. The purpose of this study was to examine child-care providers' feeding practices to assess whether providers met the Academy's benchmarks and whether attainment of benchmarks varied across child-care contexts (Head Start, Child and Adult Care Food Program [CACFP], and non-CACFP). Cross-sectional data was collected in 2011 and 2012 from 118 child-care providers who completed self-administered surveys regarding their feeding practices for 2- to 5-year-old children. χ2 tests and analysis of variance were used to determine variation across contexts. Head Start providers sat more frequently with children during meals (P=0.01), ate the same foods as children (P=0.001), and served meals family style (P<0.0001) more often compared with CACFP and non-CACFP providers. Head Start providers (P=0.002), parents (P=0.001), and children (P=0.01) received more nutrition-education opportunities compared with CACFP and non-CACFP. Head Start providers encouraged more balance and variety of foods (P<0.05), offered healthier foods (P<0.05), modeled healthy eating (P<0.001), and taught children about nutrition (P<0.001) compared with CACFP and non-CACFP providers. Providers across all three contexts used significantly more non-internal than internal mealtime verbal comments (P<0.0001). Head Start providers had greater compliance with the Academy's benchmarks compared with CACFP and non-CACFP providers. Possible reasons for this compliance might be attributed to Head Start nutrition performance standards and increased nutrition-training opportunities for Head Start staff. Head Start programs can serve as a model in implementing the Academy's benchmarks.
KW - Child and Adult Care Food Program
KW - Child-care nutrition policies
KW - Child-care providers
KW - Feeding practices
KW - Head Start Program
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84884413111&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jand.2013.05.023
DO - 10.1016/j.jand.2013.05.023
M3 - Article
C2 - 23916973
AN - SCOPUS:84884413111
SN - 2212-2672
VL - 113
SP - 1346
EP - 1353
JO - Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
JF - Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
IS - 10
ER -