Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW): A childcare center based obesity prevention program

INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of childhood obesity has increased dramatically recently. Evidence suggests childhood obesity is strongly associated with a lack of physical activity combined with poor nutritional hygiene practices in childcare centers. As a response to the epidemic of childhood obesity, we developed a community-based intervention targeting nutrition and physical activity at 1,400 childcare facilities. METHODS: The program has three primary components: (1) Increase teacher awareness of current obesity trends and health statistics through education; (2) Provide caregivers skills to better foster positive nutritional behaviors; and (3) implement policies related to screen time, physical activity, and healthier menu selections at childcare centers. Pre-post measures include the Food Frequency Questionnaire , teacher knowledge questionnaire, and a classroom-based observational tool. RESULTS: To date, baseline data has been collected on 500 childcare centers. Results revealed the majority of the facilities have better physical activity practices, 56.7% rated as excellent in both indoor and outdoor play, as compared to nutrition practices (97.4% rated as poor in serving skim milk, 50% assessed as poor for serving 1% milk). Preliminary results show significant improvements in staff knowledge related to pre assessment scores (M = 4.7) and post assessment scores (M = 5.8). DISCUSSION: This large-scale program represents a unique opportunity to observe policy implementation in a multi-cultural community, while assisting childcare centers in acquiring the tools needed to help combat the childhood obesity epidemic. Present outcomes suggest implications for improving healthy behaviors, and future directions for the development and implementation of effective community-based initiatives.