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Research Results Child Care/Preschool
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Of the nation's 21 million preschool children, 13 million attend a child-care facility, where they consume a substantial portion of their daily foods and calories. Many federal, state and local policies govern child-care and preschool facilities, but there has been little research to date about policies related to nutrition in these settings. The aims of studies in this area are to identify policy and environmental changes in child-care and preschool settings that can help prevent childhood obesity. Title: Barriers to Obesity Prevention in Head Start
RWJF Grant ID: 63042
Principal Investigator: Robert Whitaker, M.D., M.P.H.
Organization: Temple University
Results: This article details findings gleaned from a national survey of all directors of Head Start, a program that provides early childhood education to nearly one million lower-income children, approximately one third of whom are obese. With respect to implementing policies and practices to address obesity, program directors identified three key barriers: lack of time, money and knowledge. Minimizing these barriers, the authors conclude, will require federal resources.
Title: Preventing Obesity in the Child Care Setting: Evaluating State Regulations
RWJF Grant ID: 65067
Principal Investigator: Jonathan Finkelstein, M.D., M.P.H., Sara E. Benjamin, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D. (Co-Principal Investigator)
Organization: Harvard Pilgrim Health Care*
Results: This report evaluates states' healthy eating and physical activity regulations for two types of child care facilities: child-care centers and child-care homes. To determine states' performance, experts first compiled a list of top ten healthy eating and top ten physical activity regulations, then compared this list against existing child-care regulations for the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Department of Defense. The study found that most states had few regulations in place. Researchers also calculated a grade for each state on the basis of more general healthy eating and physical activity regulations.
Source: Individual state report cards, national rankings and the full report are available at: http://cfm.mc.duke.edu/childcare.
* Work on this research began while Dr. Benjamin was at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. She is now at Duke University.
Title: Child Care as an Untapped Setting for Obesity Prevention: State Child Care Licensing Regulations Related to Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Media Use for Preschool-Aged Children in the United States
Authors: Karen Kaphingst, M.P.H., Mary Story, Ph.D., R.D.
Organization: RWJF Healthy Eating Research national program office, University of Minnesota
Results: There are 8.6 million preschool-aged children enrolled in child-care facilities in the United States. The licensing regulations for these facilities in the areas of nutrition, physical activity, and media use (e.g., television, videos, computers) show that there are many potential opportunities to prevent obesity among these children.
Title: A National Survey of Obesity Prevention Practices in Head Start
RWJF Grant ID: 63042
Principal Investigator: Robert C. Whitaker, M.D., M.P.H.
Organization: Temple University
Results: This article summarizes obesity prevention practices and environments within Head Start, the United States’ largest federally-funded early childhood education program. On the basis of survey data, researchers found that most Head Start programs report doing more to support healthy eating and gross motor activity than required by federal performance standards in these areas.
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