A Qualitative Application of the Belsky Model to Explore Early Care and Education Teachers' Mealtime History, Beliefs, and Interactions

Abstract

Objective Studies on factors associated with nutrition practices in early care and education settings often focus on socio-demographic and programmatic characteristics. This qualitative study adapts and applies Belsky’s Determinants of Parenting Model to inform a broader exploration of Early Care and Education Teachers (ECETs) practices. Design Qualitative cross-sectional study with ECETs Setting ECETs were interviewed in their communities across a Southern state. Participants Purposive sampling was employed to recruit ECETs (N = 28) from Head Start or state-funded centers serving low-income families. Phenomenon of Interest ECETs’ developmental histories of food and nutrition, beliefs about child nutrition, and teaching interactions related to food Analysis Qualitative interviews were coded using a deductive content analysis approach. Results Three distinct interrelationships across the themes were observed. First, rules and routines around food and mealtime in the educators’ childhood often aligned with educator beliefs and behaviors at meals in their classroom. Second, ECETs described motivations to leave a healthy food legacy for children in their class. Finally, an experience of food insecurity appeared in narratives that also emphasized making sure children get enough through various strategies. Conclusions and Implications The influence of ECET developmental histories and their related beliefs can be addressed through professional development and ongoing support. Future study should quantify model constructs in a larger sample and study their relationships over time.

Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Australian Trainee Childcare Educators Regarding Their Role in the Feeding Behaviours of Young Children

“…Individual level factors that influence best practice child feeding in the childcare sector are described in the literature as including perceptions of the childcare educator role, childhood experiences (especially regarding food insecurity), personal knowledge, beliefs and attitudes and ethnicity [14,34,44,45,48]. While studies report that childcare educators perceive the promotion of healthy eating positively [24], preparing children for school, rather than developing healthy habits, is considered to be their primary role [46].…”

“…It is understood that personal beliefs, such as concerns about own health and weight status [39], past and current food security [47] and cultural dietary practices [55], all influence a childcare educator's child feeding practices. New practices however can be taught by acknowledging existing educator beliefs and experiences [48] and providing specific knowledge on how to apply a particular practice [49]. In the case of child control, this could involve verbal examples to operationalise responsive feeding practices, such as trialled by Dev et al [54] using "This pineapple tastes so sweet and juicy.…”

“…Childcare educators are important role models given the length of time children spend in care, and can aid the development of a child through play based learning, social interaction, school readiness, and food practices [30,42,43], as well as enhance behaviours learned at home [23]. Beyond modelling, a childcare educator's unique personal values, beliefs and perceptions, age, education level, ethnicity, health status, length of employment in childcare and training can also impact their behaviours and practices with children in their care [14,34,[44][45][46][47][48][49]. While Australian childcare educators are required to have a minimum of a Certificate lll in Early Childhood Education and Care [22], Australian studies [50,51] show that childcare educator nutrition knowledge varies greatly, and personal experiences mostly shape attitudes and practices [52].…”

Defining and conceptualizing outcomes for de-implementation: key distinctions from implementation outcomes

“…Such realities in the lives of community stakeholders impact the complexity of deimplementation efforts. Further, when asking educators to reduce practices of pressuring children to eat, educators described feeling as if that ignored the reality of the food insecurity they fear for children [21] and what they experience in their own lives [22,23]. In the clinical setting, the practice of vaginal douching has a strong cultural and community aspect.…”

Table Talk: development of an observational tool to assess verbal feeding communications in early care and education settings

“…Cultural differences may be reflected in the communications of ECETs as suggested by recent work documenting the influence of family history on ECET’s mealtime practices with children in their classrooms. 54 As no standard, self-report measures of feeding communications or behaviors have been validated in ECETs, validation against the CFQ and CFSQ may be useful as well. Finally, pairing of Table Talk with other tools which measure different aspects of the feeding environment (e.g., non-verbal strategies, environmental characteristics) is needed.…”