ResearchOriginal ResearchStaff Food-Related Behaviors and Children’s Tastes of Food Groups during Lunch at Child Care in Oklahoma
Section snippets
Study Design
This was a cross-sectional study with data collection from fall 2011 to spring 2014. Licensed ECE centers that provided full-time child care to 3- to 5-year-old children were contacted via telephone in a convenience sampling for the opportunity to participate. Twenty-five of the 56 centers that were contacted participated in the study. ECE centers were located in urban and rural settings across all regions in the state of Oklahoma. The study represents 3.3% of all ECE centers in Oklahoma. All
Results
Fifty-one percent of the 201 participating children were male. The sample was 39% American Indian, 36% white, 18.6% African American, 3.5% Hispanic, 2.0% Asian, and 0.5% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. The mean number of children in each classroom was 12.6, and most (86%) classes were supervised by a single staff member. Meal service style was 1) delivered in bulk and served on prepared trays (40%), 2) delivered in bulk and portioned by staff (35%), and 3) family-style meal service (21%).
Discussion
This study expanded limited research on the influence of child-care staff’s nutrition-related behaviors on children’s frequency of tasting nutrient-dense fruit, vegetable, and low-fat dairy, as well as fried vegetable, fried meat, high-fat meat, and high-fat/high-sugar food during the lunch meal. Best-practice recommendations are 1) determine fullness before plate removal with half of the food uneaten, 2) eat the same food as children, and 3) talk about healthy food with children. In contrast
Conclusions
Child-care staff best-practice behaviors supported by outcomes were: 1) staff “determine fullness before plate removal,” 2) staff “eat the same food as children,” and 3) staff “talk about healthy food.” The most frequent behaviors, staff “sit with children at meal times” and staff “encourage a ‘picky eater’ to try a food,” were not associated with desirable outcomes, such as children tasting nutrient-dense foods more frequently and unhealthy foods less frequently. These findings suggest that
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to extend our appreciation to all of the child-care centers and families who contributed to this study. The authors would also like to thank all student members of the Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity Laboratory who participated in data collection for this project.
K. Anundson is a clinical registered dietitian nutritionist, Avera Queen of Peace Hospital, Mitchell, SD; at the time of the study, she was a graduate research assistant, Department of Nutritional Science, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahama City.
References (31)
- et al.
Nutrient intakes of US infants, toddlers, and preschoolers meet or exceed dietary reference intakes
J Acad Nutr Diet
(2010) - et al.
Food consumption patterns of young preschoolers: Are they starting off on the right path?
J Acad Nutr Diet
(2010) - et al.
Specific social influences on the acceptance of novel foods in 2-5-year-old children
Appetite
(2005) - et al.
Position of the American Dietetic Association: Benchmarks for nutrition in child care
J Acad Nutr Diet
(2011) - et al.
Improving the physical activity and nutrition environment through self-assessment (NAP SACC) in rural area child care centers in North Carolina
Prev Med
(2014) - et al.
The use of inappropriate feeding practices by rural parents and their effect on preschoolers' fruit and vegetable preferences and intake
J Nutr Educ Behav
(2008) - et al.
“Are you done?” Child care providers' verbal communication at mealtimes that reinforce or hinder children's internal cues of hunger and satiation
J Nutr Educ Behav
(2010) - et al.
Development and reliability of an observation method to assess food intake of young children in child care
J Acad Nutr Diet
(2007) - et al.
Effectiveness of teacher modeling to encourage food acceptance in preschool children
Appetite
(2000) - et al.
The role of parental control practices in explaining children's diet and BMI
Appetite
(2008)
“Finish your soup”: Counterproductive effects of pressuring children to eat on intake and affect
Appetite
About feeding children: Mealtimes in child-care centers in four western states
J Acad Nutr Diet
Vital signs: Fruit and vegetable intake among children—United States, 2003-2010
MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep
Cited by (20)
Nutrition Practices of Family Child Care Home Providers and Children's Diet Quality
2023, Journal of Nutrition Education and BehaviorYoung Children's mealtimes and eating practices in early childhood education and care: A scoping review of 30 years of research from 1990 to 2020
2023, Educational Research ReviewCitation Excerpt :Finally, some studies point to additional types of feeding practices, such as having a variability of food items on the table, talking about healthy food, and involving children in the preparation of the food (Anundson et al., 2018; Dotson et al., 2015; Gubbels, Kremers, Stafleu, Dagnelie, et al., 2010; Gubbels, Kremers, Stafleu, Stafleu, et al., 2010; Kharofa et al., 2016; Wergedahl et al., 2020). These practices may lead to children’s increased intake of healthy food (Anundson et al., 2018; Gubbels, Kremers, Stafleu, Dagnelie, et al., 2010; Gubbels, Kremers, Stafleu, Stafleu, et al., 2010) and enthusiastic participation in conversations about food (Dotson et al., 2015), and may enable children to become independent consumers (Wergedahl et al., 2020). Despite several contradictory findings, the studies discussed here predominantly point to the negative effects of teachers’ authoritarian or controlling feeding practices.
Measuring feeding practices among early care and education teachers and examining relations with food insecurity
2020, AppetiteCitation Excerpt :A few studies have explored the psychometric properties of tools designed to assess feeding practices for ECETs. For example, the Environmental Policy Assessment and Observation Self-Report contains subscales which assess ECET feeding practices and has demonstrated test-retest reliability (Fallon et al., 2018; Ward, Mazzucca, McWilliams, & Hales, 2015) and predictive validity (Anundson et al., 2018). The About Feeding Children (AFC) survey was developed with extensive input from childcare stakeholders to reflect the unique aspects of feeding multiple children at once in the childcare setting and has demonstrated a strong psychometric structure and appropriate internal consistency (Swindle, Sigman-Grant, et al., 2018).
The development of child and adult care food program best-practice menu and training for Native American head start programs: The FRESH study
2019, Preventive Medicine ReportsCitation Excerpt :As the majority of U.S. children up to 6 years old regularly spend time in ECE programs (Redford et al., 2017) and ECE providers are required to feed children nearly two-thirds of their daily nutrient needs (Oklahoma Department of Human Services, 2016), the importance of ECE programs cannot be underestimated. Studies have shown that ECE program policies and their social and physical environments influence child physical activity (Trost et al., 2010; Tonge et al., 2016) and dietary intake (Erinosho et al., 2011; Kharofa et al., 2015; Gubbels et al., 2010; Hughes et al., 2007; Anundson et al., 2018; Lessard and Breck, 2015; Sisson et al., 2016b). However, there is great variation in quality of health-promoting practices and policies across ECE programs (Swyden et al., 2017; Schwartz et al., 2015; Benjamin Neelon et al., 2012).
K. Anundson is a clinical registered dietitian nutritionist, Avera Queen of Peace Hospital, Mitchell, SD; at the time of the study, she was a graduate research assistant, Department of Nutritional Science, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahama City.
S. B. Sisson is an associate professor, Department of Nutritional Science, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City.
L. Hoffman is an assistant professor, Department of Nutritional Science, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City.
M. Anderson is an assistant professor, Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City.
D. Horm is director of the Early Childhood Education Institute, University of Oklahoma, Tulsa.
J. Soto is assistant director for the Center for Early Childhood Development Center, University of Oklahoma, Tulsa.
STATEMENT OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
FUNDING/SUPPORT This study was supported by the Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition and the Stephenson Cancer Center at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, as well as the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Department of Nutritional Sciences.