Contextual Factors Influence Professional Development Attendance Among Child Care Providers in Nebraska

Abstract

Objective: To examine contextual factors that may influence child care providers' motivators for attending nutrition-related training and their preferences and barriers to attending professional development training. Design: Cross-sectional survey completed between January and April 2017. Setting: Licensed child care programs (n = 1,490) across urban and rural Nebraska. Participants: Child care center directors (n = 336) and family child care home providers (n = 1,154). Main Outcome Measures: Motivators, preferences, and barriers of child care providers for attending professional development. Analysis: Descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted. Results: Top motivators for attending nutrition-related training included meeting licensure requirements and improving job performance. Child care providers most commonly selected preferences for receiving training included in-person and online delivery. Top barriers to obtaining training were schedule conflicts, accessibility, and cost. Child care centers and participants in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment in Child Care (Go NAP SACC) were more likely to be motivated by licensure requirements. Rural providers were also more likely to report barriers such as inability to travel and limited access to training. Results revealed that child care type, geographic location, CACFP and Go NAP SACC participation can influence child care providers' motivators, preferences, and barriers to attending training. Conclusions and Implications: Results highlight the importance of offering professional development training that best fits child care providers' needs and preferences.

Food Program Participation Influences Nutrition Practices in Early Care and Education Settings

“…Although professional development groups such as the Nebraska Department of Education−Team Nutrition organization offer training specific to mealtime best practices, 30 providers' motivation to attend is heavily driven by CACFP and state licensure requirements. 35 Thus, these data suggest strengthening these requirements to include mealtime behaviors and potentially altering reimbursement rates and resources to assist ECEs in overcoming common context-specific barriers to implementation. Furthermore, improving CACFP enrollment through sponsored outreach programs, or strengthening state licensing to accommodate CACFP requirements and best practices, could be potential key strategies for improving nutrition-related practices in non-CACFP settings.…”