Directors' Perspectives on Early Care and Education (ECE) Centers' Interactions With Parents About Food Brought From Home

Abstract

To identify factors that influence the role of Early Care and Education (ECE) centers in family-focused nutrition education and advocacy. As part of the cluster-randomized trial of the Lunch is in the Bag intervention at ECE centers (15 intervention, 15 control), center directors completed a questionnaire pre- and post-intervention (baseline and 28 weeks later). Core components were newsletters and notes to parents, center-based parent-child nutrition learning stations, and classroom lessons. Questions for directors asked about nutrition education for children and parents, written guidelines about food brought from home, and informal nutrition policies and practices (e.g., talking with parents about their child's eating). Data were evaluated using cross-tabulations and thematic analyses. Compared to control, directors at intervention centers reported more nutrition education procedures for parents (Mann Whitney U, P=0.041), but overall scores remained low. Across groups one-third of directors at baseline answered it is “very important” to offer nutrition education, but also reported their center does not offer nutrition education for parents. Directors' narratives indicated teachers may not communicate with parents about the healthiness of child eating habits because of concern about offending parents, feeling uncomfortable, or the lack of nutrition education for teachers. ECE center directors consider nutrition education important even if there is little center-wide nutrition education or discussion. This study illustrates the need for centers to not only offer nutrition programs but to focus on specific communication strategies with parents.