Newham's early years nutrition programme: audit and qualitative analysis

Abstract

BackgroundChildhood obesity is a rapidly-growing global concern, with huge impacts on health in childhood and later life. Within the London Borough of Newham, about 25% of children aged 4–5 years and 40% of those aged 10–11 years are overweight. Early intervention strategies are key to targeting childhood obesity. As part of their Childhood Obesity Action Plan, Newham Council, London, introduced an early years nutrition programme in May, 2017. We aimed to assess the implementation of this programme through an audit of Newham's children's centres. MethodsNewham's 11 children's centres were invited to participate in this audit. Our objectives were to determine whether centres are displaying the UNICEF breastfeeding logo, to audit what information about healthy eating is displayed in early years settings, to determine what sessions the centres offer in their timetable for parents, and to conduct a face-to-face interviews on early years nutrition with staff members at each children's centre. Interaction with parents or children was out of scope for this research. Data collection, from Jan 1, to March 31, 2018, was conducted through photographs and field notes. We assessed whether nutrition activities of each centre complied with guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). FindingsEight (72·7%) centres participated. All centres displayed the UNICEF breastfeeding logo. The most frequent display board topics related to generic health and wellbeing (four centres, 50·0%), and breastfeeding (three, 37·5%). The most frequent sessions offered were oral health (four, 50·0%) and nutrition (three, 37·5%) workshops. Staff regarded health visitors and parental engagement as the most important factors for delivering effective early years nutrition. InterpretationThis audit indicates that Newham's early years nutrition programme is consistent with NICE guidelines, meeting all 18 relevant recommendations. Future acquisition of data on obesity, tooth decay, and breastfeeding will help determine the programme's effectiveness. Additional research on the importance of health visitors in delivery of early years nutrition will further characterise their role in such programmes and inform the implementation of similar programmes in Newham and elsewhere. FundingNewham Council.