Healthy Nutrition and Physical Activity in Childcare: Views from Childcare Managers, Childcare Workers and Parents on Influential Factors

Childhood obesity is an important public health issue influenced by both personal and environmental factors. The childcare setting plays an important role in children’s energy balance-related behaviours (EBRB), such as physical activity, sedentary behaviour and healthy nutrition. This study aimed to explore facilitators and barriers of healthy EBRB in childcare in a comprehensive way, from the perspective of three crucial stakeholders: childcare managers, childcare workers and parents. A qualitative study was performed using semi-structured interviews. Content analysis was performed using the... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Ilona van de Kolk
Anne J. M. Goossens
Sanne M. P. L. Gerards
Stef P. J. Kremers
Roos M. P. Manders
Jessica S. Gubbels
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2018
Reihe/Periodikum: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol 15, Iss 12, p 2909 (2018)
Verlag/Hrsg.: MDPI AG
Schlagwörter: childcare / pre-school / environment / nutrition / physical activity / qualitative / consistency / socio-ecological model / Netherlands / behaviour / Medicine / R
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27190272
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15122909

Childhood obesity is an important public health issue influenced by both personal and environmental factors. The childcare setting plays an important role in children’s energy balance-related behaviours (EBRB), such as physical activity, sedentary behaviour and healthy nutrition. This study aimed to explore facilitators and barriers of healthy EBRB in childcare in a comprehensive way, from the perspective of three crucial stakeholders: childcare managers, childcare workers and parents. A qualitative study was performed using semi-structured interviews. Content analysis was performed using the ‘Environmental Research framework for weight Gain prevention’ (EnRG framework) to guide the analysis. Forty-eight interviews were held with a total of 65 participants (9 childcare managers, 23 childcare workers and 33 parents). Influential factors in all types of environment (physical, sociocultural, economic and political) were mentioned. Although a need for change was not always expressed, the interviews revealed opportunities for improvement of healthy EBRB in childcare. These opportunities were related to the sociocultural, physical and political environment. Childcare workers and managers expressed an influence of the home setting on the childcare setting, resulting in a need for more congruence between these settings. There are opportunities for improvement in the childcare setting to promote healthy EBRB in young children in the Netherlands. It appears important to align intervention components between the childcare and home setting.