- Title
- A longitudinal study assessing childcare services' adoption of obesity prevention policies and practices
- Creator
- Yoong, Sze Lin; Finch, Meghan; Nathan, Nicole; Wiggers, John; Lecathelinais, Christophe; Jones, Jannah; Dodds, Pennie; Wolfenden, Luke
- Relation
- Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health Vol. 52, Issue 7, p. 765-770
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpc.13252
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2016
- Description
- Aim: Despite ongoing investments to improve the obesogenic environments of childcare settings, little is known regarding how these services have changed their physical activity and nutrition-promoting practices. This study aims to describe changes in the proportion of Australian childcare services that have adopted best-practice healthy eating and physical activity practices between 2006 and 2013 and to assess whether adoption varied by socio-economic status and locality. Methods: A randomly selected sample of nominated supervisors (n = 358) from childcare services located in New South Wales, Australia, participated in a telephone survey in 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2013. Supervisors reported on their service's adoption of six practices: (i) having written nutrition and physical activity policies; (ii) staff trained in physical activity and nutrition in the past year; (iii) scheduled time for fundamental movement skills and (iv) outdoor play; (v) weekly or less screen time opportunities; and (vi) serving only non-sweetened beverages. Results: A significant increase in the prevalence of services adopting all but one practice, between 2006 and 2013 was identified. Ninety one percent of services adopted four or more practices, a significant increase from 38% in 2006. There were no differences in the proportion of services adopting each practice by locality and socio-economic status. Conclusions: Government investment in obesity prevention programmes can equitably improve childcare service's adoption of healthy eating and physical activity promoting practices on a jurisdiction-wide basis. The establishment of a routine system to monitor adoption of a broader range of practices by childcare services is warranted.
- Subject
- child day care centres; health promotion; policy; public health
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1321626
- Identifier
- uon:24417
- Identifier
- ISSN:1034-4810
- Language
- eng
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Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being
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