P59 EAT Family-Style Dining Intervention Improves Child Care Providers' Responsive Feeding Practices and Children's Dietary Intake

Abstract

Objective To determine the impact of the Ecological Approach to (EAT) Family Style Dining intervention on childcare providers’ implementation of responsive feeding practices, children's knowledge and familiarity of fruits and vegetables (FV), and dietary intake. Use of Theory or Research EAT Family Style is guided by the socio-ecological theory and includes an implementation strategy, evidence-informed responsive feeding practices and a research-based coaching model emphasizing growth mindset thinking, goal setting and reflecting. Target Audience Childcare providers (n = 45) caring for children (three to five years old) from 11 childcare centers in Nebraska. Child-level data were collected from a sub-sample of 53 children. Program Description EAT Family Style Dining is a 14-week intervention consisting of seven interactive web-based lessons (two hours each) focused on: role modeling, peer modeling, sensory exploration, self-regulation, children serve themselves, praise and rewards, and family engagement. Providers completed one online lesson/week followed by a coaching session with an Extension educator. Evaluation Methods Implementation feasibility was evaluated by childcare providers completing the attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction (ARCS) survey, along with a pre-post survey reporting knowledge, attitudes, and implementation of responsive feeding practices. Intervention effectiveness was evaluated by changes in children's knowledge and familiarity of FV and dietary intake which were measured using previously validated methods. Results The implementation strategy was feasible. Average ARCS scores for all seven lessons were 4.1 on a 5-point Likert scale. On average, providers’ knowledge, attitudes and implementation scores regarding responsive feeding practices increased from baseline to post-intervention by 22%, 27%, and 29.5% respectively. The intervention was effective. Children's knowledge score for FV [t (52) = 4.550, P P P P Conclusions Overall, the EAT Family Style Dining intervention is feasible in fostering childcare providers’ implementation of responsive feeding practices and provides preliminary evidence for positively impacting children's dietary intake. Funding USDA NIFA.