Eat Well Play Hard in Child Care Settings

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Overview

Intent of the intervention: Eat Well Play Hard in Child Care Settings (EWPHCCS) is a multi-component intervention that focuses on improving the nutrition and physical activity behaviors of pre-school age children and their parents/caregivers and influencing food and activity practices in child care settings. It uses educational strategies and skill building activities to enhance self-efficacy for a targeted behavior change in both the parent and child. The intervention also builds social support within the child care environment by including teachers and care providers in lessons and encouraging positive role-modeling and classroom reinforcement of nutrition and physical activity messages.

Intended Population: The primary audience for this intervention consists of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participating and eligible families with pre-school age (3-4 years) children enrolled in Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) participating child care centers. Eligible centers are those in which 50% or more of enrolled families eligible for free or reduced-price meals.

Setting(s): Child care

Background: The EWPHCCS intervention was developed under the umbrella of the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Eat Well Play Hard framework, which aims to provide consistent messages across programs that serve similar populations. The consistent messages include:

1. Increase consumption of low-fat or fat free milk and dairy products, for children 2 and older.
2. Increase consumption of vegetables and fruits.
3. Increase developmentally appropriate physical activity.
4. Decrease exposure to television and other recreational screen time.

Within the NYSDOH, Division of Nutrition, CACFP ensures that nutritious and safely-prepared meals and snacks are available to children and adults in child care settings. CACFP staff provide nutrition expertise, training and resource materials to participating programs. CACFP provides reimbursement for qualifying meals and snacks served in child or adult day care centers, outside-school-hours care programs, family day care homes, and homeless shelters. CACFP-participating child care centers provide access to a large, pre-existing, diverse population of low-income children and families across New York State (NYS).

The EWPHCCS intervention was developed by nutritionists in NYS CACFP in 2005 with funding from the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (USDA SNAP-Ed). At the community level, EWPHCCS is implemented by Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agencies and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYCDOHMH). Child Care Resource and Referral agencies are found all over the US and provide a link between the community and child care providers. These agencies work with communities to enhance capacity and the quality of care provided to young children. CCR&Rs provide resources, training and support to child care providers and are respected leaders in the child care community. They are a natural partner for implementation of EWPHCCS. While CACFP works with the existing infrastructure of CCR&Rs to implement EWPHCCS, CACFP is flexible enough to work with other agencies, such as NYCDOHMH.

Length of time in the field: The intervention has been in the field since June 2006