Barriers To Obesity Prevention In Head Start

Abstract

Head Start provides early childhood education to nearly one million low-income children, through federal grants to more than 2,000 local programs. About one-third of children who enter Head Start are overweight or obese. But program directors face difficulty in implementing policies and practices to address obesity-and in our national survey, they identified the key barriers as lack of time, money, and knowledge. Also, parents and staff sometimes shared cultural beliefs that were inconsistent with preventing obesity, such as the belief that heavier children are healthier. Minimizing those barriers will require federal resources to increase staff training and technical assistance, develop staff wellness programs, and provide healthy meals and snacks.

Nutrition Policies at Child-Care Centers and Impact on Role Modeling of Healthy Eating Behaviors of Caregivers

“…Providing healthy food and beverage options to staff as a benefit of working at the centers may encourage caregivers to consume healthy foods and beverages in the presence of children. However, it is important to note that caregivers have their individual food preferences and may find it easy to encourage children to eat healthy (17), even when they do not necessarily practice what they preach. It is also possible that policies were not enforced at centers, or that caregivers were not aware of their centers' policies; however, these possibilities were not evaluated as part of the current study.…”

Providers perspectives on self-regulation impact their use of responsive feeding practices in child care

“…Lack of funding for food has been consistently reported as a barrier by childcare providers (Hughes, Gooze, Finkelstein, & Whitaker, 2010;Whitaker, Gooze, Hughes, & Finkelstein, 2009). Increasing the federal resources (e.g.…”

Míranos!Look at Us, We Are Healthy! An Environmental Approach to Early Childhood Obesity Prevention

“…[12][13][14] Environmental modifications both at childcare centers 15 and homes 7 are essential to alter the obesogenic environment surrounding low-income preschool age minority children. 16 Effective, family-oriented intervention contributes to long-term weight control, 17,18 but is sparse for this population group. 12,15,19 In response to these gaps, we tested a culturally tailored, multicomponent obesity prevention intervention, 1 Míranos!…”