Report of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Offered in Pennsylvania Childcare Centers

Abstract

The study objective was to quantify sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) offerings to children in Pennsylvania (PA) childcare centers and determine whether this information is communicated to parents. In October 2014, a SurveyMonkey link was sent to 4461 PA childcare centers. The 518 respondents represented 88% of PA counties. 279 centers (54%) serve SSBs. 330 (65%) of childcare centers provide parents a report of their child's daily intake. Of 185 centers serving SSBs and providing a daily intake report, 91% include SSB consumption. In total, 38% of centers (103/272) offer but do not report SSB consumption. In 96% of centers, parents may request their child not receive SSBs. In conclusion, though more than half of PA childcare centers surveyed offer SSBs, those providing daily intake reports usually include SSB consumption. Requiring daily intake reports may be a strategy to increase parental awareness of items consumed outside the home.

Status of Beverages Served to Young Children in Child Care After Implementation of California Policy, 2012–2016

“…New York City has a child care beverage policy similar to California, except that flavored milk and juice are not addressed. Compared with our 2016 California survey, in a 2010 study, adherence to the New York City policy was higher for milk (80%), and lower for SSBs (70%) and water (56%) (15). However, the New York City study only included centers, 90% of which participated in CACFP.…”

“…As adherence to state and federal regulations regarding allowable beverages in California child care sites continues to improve, consumption of unhealthy beverages is likely to decrease, there being a strong and direct relationship between beverages served at child care sites and children's beverage consumption (15). This may result both in long-term health care cost savings through preventing childhood obesity and possible cost savings for the child care site.…”

Compliance with the New 2017 Child and Adult Care Food Program Standards for Infants and Children before Implementation

“…For example, a recent study in Pennsylvania found that more than half of child care centers surveyed offered sugar-sweetened beverages to children. 22 Although sites did not report insufficient training as a barrier to implementing the new CACFP standards, stakeholders emphasized the need to help providers understand not only the content, but also how to operationalize the standards, expressing a concern that some providers might Respondents were allowed to select multiple answer options so percentages do not add up to 100% across a row. a Includes write-in responses.…”

Racial and Ethnic Discrimination in the Labor Market for Child Care Teachers

“… 11 It is important to note that the response rate reported here is similar to those reported in previous studies that surveyed center-based child care programs. Lutzkanin, Myers, Schaefer, and Sekhar (2016) and Joshi, Ocanto, Jacobs, and Bhoopathi (2016) report response rates of 11.6% and 17.0%, respectively, in web-based surveys of center-based directors. Interestingly, Schaack and Le (2017) combine e-mail recruitment with a web-based survey, along with a $200 financial incentive, and achieve only a 23.6% response rate.…”