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Wellness Child Care Assessment Tool (WellCCAT): A measure to assess the quality of written nutrition and physical activity policies in child care centers
Wednesday, November 2, 2011: 10:30 AM
Erica L. Kenney, MPH
,
Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Kathryn E. Henderson, PhD
,
Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, Yale University, New Haven, CT
Marlene B. Schwartz, PhD
,
Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, Yale University, New Haven, CT
Introduction: Nearly 60% of children ages 3-6 years are enrolled in child care centers. Policies governing child care practices have the potential to ensure that children are exposed to healthy foods, physical activity, and limited sedentary time. Currently, little is known about the quality of written nutrition and physical activity policies at individual child care centers. Methods: Based on a review of existing nutrition, physical activity, and child care standards specific to preschool-aged children, an instrument was developed to measure the strength and comprehensiveness of written nutrition, physical activity, and wellness policies in child care centers. Psychometric properties were evaluated based on ratings of 94 independent policies from Connecticut child care centers participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) in 2008. Results: Interrater reliability was excellent: ICC 0.98 for total comprehensiveness score, ICC 0.94 for total strength score, and ICC 0.84 to 0.97 for subscales. Subscales were adequately internally reliable (Cronbach's α = 0.58 to 0.83). Comprehensiveness and strength scores were higher for Head Start centers than non-Head Start centers across most domains and higher for National Association for the Education of Young Children-accredited centers than non-accredited centers across some domains. Discussion: Written program-level policies can improve practices and offer a means through which administrators and families can evaluate program performance. The WellCCAT provides a standardized method to assess and compare the quality of written wellness policies in and across child care centers and will be useful for studying predictors or consequences of child care policy.
Learning Areas:
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines
Learning Objectives: 1. Describe how to use the WellCCAT to rate child care center policies.
2. Discuss the importance of written nutrition and physical activity policies in the child care center setting.
3. Identify policy areas that are frequently and infrequently addressed by policies from Connecticut child care centers participating in CACFP.
Keywords: Child Care, Nutrition
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to present because I have degrees in public health and have worked on multiple research projects related to school nutrition and policy.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
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