P135 Differential Effectiveness of Go NAP SACC in Urban and Rural Childcare Centers

Abstract

Background Preschool children's obesity rate in Nebraska is fifth in the U.S. Rural areas tend to have more health disparities comparing to urban area. Limited research has identified the differences of the policy, systems and nutrition environment between rural and urban childcare centers. Objective To investigate differential effectiveness of the Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment in Child Care (Go NAP SACC) in urban and rural areas in Nebraska. Study Design, Settings, Participants With a sample (N = 171) childcare centers in Nebraska ([N = 102] urban and [N = 69] in rural areas), a quasi-experimental longitudinal study was conducted from 2014 to 2017. Measurable Outcome/Analysis Paired sample t-tests were conducted to compare pre- and post-test scores within urban and rural centers, separately. Independent sample t-tests was also used to examine differential effectiveness between urban and rural centers. Results Go NAP SACC was found to improve the nutrition environment in most assessment items (30 out of 42 items) including food provision and feeding environment. While rural centers showed significant improvement in the beverage provision section (P .05) at the post-test assessment. Conclusion Go NAP SACC program is an effective program to enhance the child nutrition environment in both rural and urban centers as well as decrease disparity in nutritional environments between urban and rural centers. Future research is needed to examine how to provide more adaptive obesity intervention program based on the multiple data such as poverty, isolation and neighborhood status in rural areas. Funding CDC.