“Healthy Futures Starting in the Kitchen”: Evaluating a childcare facility staff training program targeting childhood obesity in Mecklenburg County

Background: As of 2012, already 30% of children in Mecklenburg County ages 5 and under were obese or overweight. The “Healthy Futures Starting in the Kitchen” program was started in 2008, using NAPSACC (Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care) principles to teach childcare facility cooks, teachers, and administrators basic nutrition and preparation of healthy recipes that appeal to kids. The program has been successfully implemented each year in partnership with local community-college culinary arts professionals to train the participants in a culturally appropriate manner. A new and improved program evaluation was needed for 2014’s newly launched “201”-level course. Method: An objective-based test was administered to all program participants at the beginning and end of the four-week program to determine whether the program achieved changes in participants’ knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviors. The 11 test questions were each scored on a 1-5 scale. Participant status as cook or administrator was noted. Results/Discussion: An initial one-tailed t-test showed significant increase from pre-test to post-test in mean question score values from 3.80 to 4.01 (p<0.05).  Extended analysis shows significant difference in scores of cooks and administrators to help assess relevance of topics and if appropriate participants are involved in program. The resulting data serves to provide continued improvement in the program’s implementation techniques to better serve the childcare facilities with childhood nutrition-related knowledge and behaviors. The project aims to evaluate the program’s efficacy on improving childhood nutrition in the county, and its potential as an implementable model for other communities.