Nutritional health attitudes and behaviors and their associations with the risk of overweight/obesity among child care providers in Michigan Migrant and Seasonal Head Start centers.

Won O Song,Elahé T Crockett,Violeta Nieves,Andie Gonzalez,Sujin Song

doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3328-y

Won O Song, Elahé T Crockett + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3328-y

Copy DOI

Abstract

BackgroundChildren enrolled in Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) programs are at high risks of health problems. Although non-family child care providers play important roles on children’s health status as role models, educators, program deliverers, and information mediators, little is known about their nutritional health attitudes and behaviors, and weight status. Therefore, we investigated nutritional health attitudes and behaviors and their associations with overweight/obesity among child care providers in Michigan MSHS centers.MethodsA total of 307 child care providers aged ≥ 18 years working in 17 Michigan MSHS centers were included in this cross-sectional study conducted in 2013. An online survey questionnaire was used to collect data on nutritional health attitudes and behaviors of child care providers. Weight status was categorized into normal weight (18.5 ≤ BMI < 25 kg/m2), overweight (25 ≤ BMI < 30 kg/m2), and obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) based on child care providers’ self-reported height and weight. Factor analysis was performed to investigate patterns of nutritional health attitudes and behaviors. Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) of overweight/obesity across tertiles of pattern scores taking the lowest tertile group as the reference group after adjustment for potential confounding variables.ResultsThree patterns of nutritional health attitudes and behaviors were identified: pattern 1) “weight loss practices with weight dissatisfaction”, pattern 2) “healthy eating behaviors”, and pattern 3) “better knowledge of nutrition and health”. The pattern 1 scores were positively associated with overweight/obesity (Tertile 2 vs. Tertile 1: OR = 5.81, 95 % CI = 2.81–12.05; Tertile 3 vs. Tertile 1: OR = 14.89, 95 % CI = 6.18–35.92). Within the pattern 2, the OR for overweight/obesity in individuals with the highest scores was 0.37 (95 % CI = 0.19–0.75) compared with those with the lowest scores. However, the pattern 3 was not associated with the risk of overweight/obesity.ConclusionsOur findings support that nutrition education or health interventions targeting MSHS child care providers are urgently necessary. These efforts might be an efficient and effective approach for improving the nutritional health status of young children enrolled in MSHS programs.

Highlights

Children enrolled in Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) programs are at high risks of health problems
This needs assessment was necessary in order to learn about the current nutritional health status of Michigan Migrant and Seasonal Farm Worker (MSFW)’s children and how this is influenced by external factors, including sociodemographic characteristics, weight status, weight related perception and behaviors, nutritional health attitudes and behaviors, nutrition knowledge, and food availability and security of their parents and child care providers in MSHS centers
Michigan MSHS child care providers in this study showed a high prevalence of overweight/obesity, which was higher than the general population of US adults aged 20 years and over [21] and lower than regular Head Start teachers in Texas (n = 181) [8]

Summary

Introduction

Children enrolled in Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) programs are at high risks of health problems. A Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) provides comprehensive early childhood education services for children ages zero to five years from Migrant and Seasonal Farm Worker (MSFW) families to promote school readiness and to help them grow physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially [1]. It was established in 1969 to respond to the needs of MSFWs [1], who are individuals employed in agricultural works on a seasonal basis with or without moving from their permanent residence [2]. Non-family child care providers are known to have the significant impact on the prevention of childhood obesity through role modeling of nutritional health behaviors and body image, teaching and practicing healthful dietary habits, implementing nutrition and health programs, and mediating information related to nutrition and health for families, parents, and children [4, 5]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion