Examining Foods and Beverages Served and Child Food Insecurity across Early Care and Education (ECE) Programs in Communities with High Rates of Obesity and Food Insecurity

Authors

Deepa Srivastava, University of California Cooperative Extension, Tulare, CAFollow
Lucy R. Zheng, University of California, DavisFollow
Dipti A. Dev, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2023

Citation

Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition 18:5 (2023), pp. 683–698.

doi: 10.1080/19320248.2022.2032897

Comments

Copyright © 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Used by permission.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine implementation of serving food and beverage evidence-based practices (nutrition EBPs) across CACFP participating licensed childcare centers (CCCs, n = 51) and family childcare homes (FCCHs, n = 49) in central California. Results indicated that FCCHs reported significantly higher (p < .05) implementation of nutrition EBPs and barriers than CCCs. Both CCCs and FCCHs refer families to WIC/SNAP when they observe child food insecurity and control how much food is served to children. It is important to consider organizational structure (CCCs, FCCHs) and child food insecurity when developing policies/interventions for improving implementation of nutrition EBPs in ECEs.