Dataset Information

Relationship between teacher fidelity to an early childhood obesity prevention program and the Child care center nutrition and physical activity environment.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Child care centers (CCC) can be strategic settings to establish healthy lifestyle behaviors through obesity prevention programs. Fidelity to the implementation of such programs is a vital evaluation component, but is often not measured. This study assessed CCC teacher fidelity to the implementation of "Healthy Caregivers, Healthy Children (HC2)", a CCC-based obesity prevention intervention.

Methods

CCCs serving low-resource, ethnically diverse families with ≥ 50 children ages 2-to-5 years old that were randomized to the HC2 intervention and that had teacher fidelity data collected (n = 9 CCC) were included in this analysis. The Environment and Policy Assessment and Observation (EPAO) tool assessed the CCC nutrition and physical activity (PA) environment at the beginning/end of the school year. Fidelity assessments were conducted in CCCs randomized to HC2 in Spring 2016 (n = 33 teachers) and 2017 (n = 39 teachers) by a trained observer. The relationship between teacher fidelity and EPAO was assessed via mixed models.

Results

For every-one unit rise in teacher fidelity, EPAO nutrition increased 0.055 points (p =.006). No significant relationship was shown between teacher fidelity and EPAO PA score (p =.14).

Conclusion

Teacher fidelity to obesity prevention program implementation may support a healthy CCC obesity prevention and nutrition environment but might require continued support for all components.

SUBMITTER: Rana P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9574711 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Relationship between teacher fidelity to an early childhood obesity prevention program and the Child care center nutrition and physical activity environment.

Rana Priyanka P Atem Folefac D FD Lebron Cynthia C Sunil Mathew M M Natale Ruby A RA Messiah Sarah E SE

Preventive medicine reports 20221014

<h4>Background</h4>Child care centers (CCC) can be strategic settings to establish healthy lifestyle behaviors through obesity prevention programs. Fidelity to the implementation of such programs is a vital evaluation component, but is often not measured. This study assessed CCC teacher fidelity to the implementation of "Healthy Caregivers, Healthy Children (HC2)", a CCC-based obesity prevention intervention.<h4>Methods</h4>CCCs serving low-resource, ethnically diverse families with ≥ 50 childre ...[more]

PMID: 36262774

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Project description:BackgroundHealth games provide opportunities for the treatment and prevention of childhood obesity. We developed a motion-controlled serious game for children that addresses 3 core topics of nutrition, physical activity, and stress coping. It is the first serious game that extensively targets the dietary energy density principle (DED-P) in relation to nutrition. The game is intended to provide an additional educational component for the prevention and treatment of obesity in children.ObjectiveThe Kids Obesity Prevention study aimed to evaluate the newly developed game and to evaluate how well children are able to understand and apply the DED-P.MethodsThis cluster randomized controlled trial collected data from 82 primary school children aged 9 to 12 years and their parents at baseline (T0), at 2 weeks after study commencement (T1), and at the 4-week follow-up (T2). The dropout rate was 3.6%. The intervention group (IG) played the game within 2 weeks (2 sessions with different game modules). One part of the game involves selection of food with the lower energy density when presented with a pair of foods. This allows assessment of whether the children have understood the DED-P and whether they can apply it to unknown foods under time pressure. The control group (CG) received a brochure about the food pyramid concept and physical activity. The primary outcome was the gain in knowledge (nutrition and stress coping) and measured with a pretested questionnaire. The secondary outcomes were the maintenance of knowledge, application of the DED-P, feelings during game play, game acceptance, and behavioral measures (physical activity, media consumption, and dietary intake).ResultsThe knowledge score ranging from 0 to 100 increased from T0 (IG: 53 [SD 10], CG: 50 [SD 11]) to T1 (IG: 69 [SD 11], CG: 52 [SD 12]) in IG versus CG (P<.001). At T2, the knowledge score of IG remained at the same level as that of T1. Game data showed that after DED-P education, the classification under time pressure of unknown versus known food pairs according to their DED category was similar (hit rate around 70%). Overall, 95% of the children liked the game very much or much. No group changes were observed at the behavioral level.ConclusionsThe Kids Obesity Prevention program sustainably increased knowledge in the areas of nutrition and stress coping, and children were able to apply the DED-P.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT02551978; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02551978.

Dataset Information

Relationship between teacher fidelity to an early childhood obesity prevention program and the Child care center nutrition and physical activity environment.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Relationship between teacher fidelity to an early childhood obesity prevention program and the Child care center nutrition and physical activity environment.

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