scholarly journals Application of the multiphase optimisation strategy to develop, optimise and evaluate the effectiveness of a multicomponent initiative package to increase 2-to-5-year-old children’s vegetable intake in long day care centres: a study protocol

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. e047618
Author(s):  
Dorota Zarnowiecki ◽  
Shabnam Kashef ◽  
Astrid AM Poelman ◽  
Maeva O Cochet-Broch ◽  
Jennifer C Arguelles ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Day Care ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Vegetable Intake ◽  
Synergistic Effects ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Food Group ◽  
Long Day ◽  
Evaluation Phase ◽  
Day Care Centres

IntroductionGlobally, children do not eat enough core foods, with vegetable intakes persistently low. Early life is critical for establishing vegetable acceptance and intake. Increased usage of formal childcare has led to the importance of childcare settings shaping children’s food intake. This study will use the multiphase optimisation strategy to develop, optimise and evaluate the effectiveness of a multicomponent initiative package to increase 2-to-5-year-old children’s vegetable intake in long day care centres.Methods and analysisThe preparation phase will use existing literature and best practice guidelines to develop three initiatives aiming to: (1) increase vegetable provision at mealtimes, (2) deliver a vegetable-focused sensory curriculum and (3) use supportive mealtime practices encouraging children’s tasting of vegetables. The optimisation phase (N=32 centres) will use a 12-week, eight-condition factorial experiment to test main and synergistic effects of the initiatives. The optimum combination of initiatives producing the largest increase in vegetable intake will be identified. The evaluation phase (N=20 centres) will test the effectiveness of the optimised package using a 12-week waitlist randomised controlled trial. Primary outcomes are children’s vegetable intake and food group intake at long day care. Secondary outcomes are menu guideline compliance, cook and educator knowledge and skills, and reach. Process evaluation will include fidelity, acceptability, barriers and facilitators, and compatibility with practice. Repeated measures ANOVA with interaction effects (optimisation phase) and linear mixed modelling (evaluation phase) will test effects of the initiatives on vegetable intake.Ethics and disseminationThis study has received ethics approval from the Flinders University Research Ethics Committee (Project No: 1873) for the optimisation phase. Approval for the evaluation phase will be obtained following completion of optimisation phase. Findings will be disseminated to stakeholders, including long day care centres and childcare organisations; and to researchers via peer-reviewed journals and conferences.Trial registration numbersACTRN12620001301954, ACTRN12620001323910p.

scholarly journals Cluster randomised controlled trial of a menu box delivery service for Australian long day care services to improve menu guideline compliance: a study protocol

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. e045136
Author(s):  
Shabnam Kashef ◽  
Dorota Zarnowiecki ◽  
Victoria Brown ◽  
Jennifer C Arguelles ◽  
David N Cox ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Day Care ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Food Group ◽  
Delivery Service ◽  
Menu Planning ◽  
Long Day ◽  
Cluster Randomised ◽  
Randomised Controlled

IntroductionGlobally, children are not meeting the recommended serves of the five food group foods, particularly vegetables. Childcare is an opportune setting to improve children’s diet quality. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of a menu box delivery service tailored to the long day care setting to improve menu compliance with recommendations and improve children’s food intake while in care.Methods and analysisThis study will employ a cluster randomised controlled trial and will recruit eight long day care centres, randomly allocated to the intervention or comparison groups. The intervention group will trial the delivery of a weekly menu box service that includes all ingredients and recipes required to provide morning snack, lunch and afternoon snack. The menu boxes are underpinned by a 4-week menu developed by dietitians and meet menu planning guidelines. The comparison group will receive access to online menu planning training and a menu assessment tool for cooks. The primary outcomes are child dietary intake and menu guideline compliance. Secondary outcomes include within-trial cost-effectiveness and process evaluation measures including intervention acceptability, usability and fidelity. If effective, the menu box delivery will provide an easy strategy for childcare cooks to implement a centre menu that meets menu planning guidelines and improves child intake of five food group foods, including vegetables.Ethics and disseminationThis study was approved by the Flinders University Social and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee. Study outcomes will be disseminated in peer-reviewed publications, via local, national and international presentations. Non-traditional outputs including evidence summaries and development of a business case will be used to disseminate study findings to relevant stakeholder groups. Data will be used in a doctoral thesis.Trial registration numberAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12620000296932).

scholarly journals When Authenticity Goes Missing: How Monocultural Children’s Literature Is Silencing the Voices and Contributing to Invisibility of Children from Minority Backgrounds

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 32
Author(s):  
Helen Adam
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Children's Literature ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Day Care ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Long Day ◽  
Day Care Centres ◽  
Book Collections ◽  
The Impact

The importance of recognising, valuing and respecting a child’s family, culture, language and values is central to socially just education and is increasingly articulated in educational policy worldwide. Inclusive children’s literature can support children’s human rights and contribute to equitable and socially just outcomes for all children. However, evidence suggests many educational settings provide monocultural book collections which are counterproductive to principles of diversity and social justice. Further, that educators’ understandings and beliefs about diversity can contribute to inequitable provision and use of diverse books and to inequitable outcomes of book sharing for many children. This paper reports on a larger study investigating factors and relationships influencing the use of children’s literature to support principles of cultural diversity in the kindergarten rooms of long day care centres. The study was conducted within an ontological perspective of constructivism and an epistemological perspective of interpretivism informed by sociocultural theory. A mixed methods approach was adopted, and convergent design was employed interpret significant relationships and their meanings. Twenty-four educators and 110 children from four long day care centres in Western Australia participated. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, video-based observations, field notes, document analysis and a book audit. This study firstly identified that current book collections in kindergarten rooms of long day care centres promote mono-cultural viewpoints and ‘othering’ of minority groups through limited access to books portraying inclusive and authentic cultural diversity. Secondly, that educators had limited understandings of the role of literature in acknowledging and valuing diversity and rarely used it to promote principles of diversity, resulting in a practice of “othering” those from minority group backgrounds. The key challenges which emerged from the study concerned beliefs, understanding and confidence of educators about diversity and inclusion, and the impact of these on their approaches to promoting principles of diversity through the use of children’s books. This research contributes to discussion on the value of children’s literature in achieving international principles of diversity. These findings have important social justice implications. The outcomes of this study have implications for educators, policy makers, early childhood organisations and those providing higher education and training for early childhood educators.

scholarly journals Impact of a nutrition award scheme on the food and nutrient intakes of 2- to 4-year-olds attending long day care

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (14) ◽  
pp. 2634-2642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucinda K Bell ◽  
Gilly A Hendrie ◽  
Jo Hartley ◽  
Rebecca K Golley
Keyword(s):  
Dietary Intake ◽  
Day Care ◽  
Dietary Habits ◽  
Vegetable Intake ◽  
Critical Time ◽  
Food Groups ◽  
Nutrient Intakes ◽  
Long Day ◽  
Award Scheme

AbstractObjectiveEarly childhood settings are promising avenues to intervene to improve children’s nutrition. Previous research has shown that a nutrition award scheme, Start Right – Eat Right (SRER), improves long day care centre policies, menus and eating environments. Whether this translates into improvements in children’s dietary intake is unknown. The present study aimed to determine whether SRER improves children’s food and nutrient intakes.DesignPre–post cohort study.SettingTwenty long day care centres in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.SubjectsChildren aged 2–4 years (n 236 at baseline, n 232 at follow-up).MethodsDietary intake (morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea) was assessed pre- and post-SRER implementation using the plate wastage method. Centre nutrition policies, menus and environments were evaluated as measures of intervention fidelity. Comparisons between baseline and follow-up were made using t tests.ResultsAt follow-up, 80 % of centres were fully compliant with the SRER award criteria, indicating high scheme implementation and adoption. Intake increased for all core food groups (range: 0·2–0·4 servings/d, P<0·001) except for vegetable intake. Energy intake increased and improvements in intakes of eleven out of the nineteen nutrients evaluated were observed.ConclusionsSRER is effective in improving children’s food and nutrient intakes at a critical time point when dietary habits and preferences are established and can inform future public health nutrition interventions in this setting.

A systems-based approach within long day care centres for obesity prevention in children aged 3–5

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
J. Marks ◽  
L. Barnett ◽  
C. Foulkes ◽  
B. Swinburn ◽  
S. Allender
Keyword(s):  
Obesity Prevention ◽  
Day Care ◽  
Long Day ◽  
Day Care Centres

Find your tribe! Early childhood educators defining and identifying key factors that support their workplace wellbeing

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 326-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Jones ◽  
Fay Hadley ◽  
Manjula Waniganayake ◽  
Melissa Johnstone
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Day Care ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Early Childhood Educators ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Long Day ◽  
Broad Concept ◽  
Contextual Elements ◽  
Day Care Centres ◽  
The Individual

Historically, research on educator wellbeing has focused on ill health including stress, burnout and emotional exhaustion. There is a dearth of research examining healthy workplace wellbeing among early childhood educators, which makes developing strategies to support their wellbeing difficult. Moreover, there is a lack of clarity about the concept of educator workplace wellbeing and a lack of understanding of the complex interplay between factors supporting and thwarting wellbeing within long day-care centres. This two-phase study used a mixed-methods research design. Presented in this paper are the findings from phase one. Semi-structured in-depth interviews with 22 early childhood educators in long day-care centres reflected on educator workplace wellbeing as a broad concept encompassing social, emotional, physical and economic factors. Educator ‘voices’ provided insight into the individual, relational and contextual elements impacting on their personal workplace wellbeing.

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