Preventing Chronic Disease | Evaluation Design of New York City’s Regulations on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Screen Time in Early Child Care Centers - CDC

FULL-TEXT ►

Preventing Chronic Disease | Evaluation Design of New York City’s Regulations on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Screen Time in Early Child Care Centers - CDC

Evaluation Design of New York City’s Regulations on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Screen Time in Early Child Care Centers

Navigate This Article

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Sample Selection
• Center Evaluation Component — Staff Interviews and Site Inventory
• Classroom Evaluation Component — Classroom and Child Direct Observation
• Discussion
• Acknowledgments
• Author Information
• References
• Tables

Andrew Breck, MPA; Ken Goodman, MA; Lillian Dunn, MPH; Robert L. Stephens, PhD, MPH; Nicola Dawkins, PhD; Beth Dixon, PhD, MPH; Jan Jernigan, PhD; Jakub Kakietek, PhD, MPH; Catherine Lesesne, PhD, MPH; Laura Lessard, PhD, MPH; Cathy Nonas, MPH; Sarah Abood O’Dell, MPH; Thearis A. Osuji, MPH; Bernice Bronson, MPH; Ye Xu; Laura Kettel Khan, PhD

Suggested citation for this article: Breck A, Goodman K, Dunn L, Stephens RL, Dawkins N, Dixon B, et al. Evaluation Design of New York City’s Regulations on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Screen Time in Early Child Care Centers. Prev Chronic Dis 2014;11:130431. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd11.130431.

PEER REVIEWED

Abstract

This article describes the multi-method cross-sectional design used to evaluate New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s regulations of nutrition, physical activity, and screen time for children aged 3 years or older in licensed group child care centers. The Center Evaluation Component collected data from a stratified random sample of 176 licensed group child care centers in New York City. Compliance with the regulations was measured through a review of center records, a facility inventory, and interviews of center directors, lead teachers, and food service staff. The Classroom Evaluation Component included an observational and biometric study of a sample of approximately 1,400 children aged 3 or 4 years attending 110 child care centers and was designed to complement the center component at the classroom and child level. The study methodology detailed in this paper may aid researchers in designing policy evaluation studies that can inform other jurisdictions considering similar policies.

Acknowledgments

The project was funded by grant no. 65425 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to the National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Technical assistance was provided by the CDC National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. ICF International served as the lead contractor for the study in conjunction with the DOHMH. Dr Dixon served as a consultant on the project. Special thanks for their support and contributions to the study go to Laura Leviton, RWJF; Tamara Dumanovsky, DOHMH; and Julia Ruben and David Cotton, ICF International.

The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors do not necessarily represent the official position of CDC or any of the other project agencies.

Top of Page

Author Information

Corresponding Author: Laura Kettel Khan, PhD, Senior Scientist, Office of the Director, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy, MS K-24, Atlanta, GA 30341. Telephone: 770-488-6018. E-mail: LDK7@cdc.gov.

Author Affiliations: Andrew Breck, Bernice Bronson, National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia; Ken Goodman, Robert L. Stephens, Nicola Dawkins, Jakub Kakietek, Catherine Lesesne, Sarah Abood O’Dell, Thearis A. Osuji, Ye Xu, ICF International, Atlanta, Georgia; Lillian Dunn, Cathy Nonas, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, New York; Beth Dixon, New York University, New York, New York; Jan Jernigan, Laura Kettel Khan, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia; Laura Lessard, Arcadia University, Glenside, Pennsylvania.

Top of Page

References

1. Young CR, Peretz P, Jaslow R, Chamany S, Berger D, Brunetti J, et al. Obesity in early childhood: more than 40% of Head Start children in NYC are overweight or obese. NYC Vital Signs 2006;5(2):1–2.
2. Notice of adoption of amendments to Article 47 of the New York City Health Code. New York City (NY): New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Board of Health; 2006.
3. Nonas C, Silver LD, Kettel Khan L, Leviton L. Rationale for New York City’s regulations on nutrition, physical activity, and screen time in early child care centers. Prev Chronic Dis 2014;11:E182. CrossRef PubMed
4. Lessard L, Lesesne C, Kakietek J, Breck A, Jernigan J, Dunn L, et al. Measurement of compliance with New York City’s regulations on beverages, physical activity, and screen time in early child care centers. Prev Chronic Dis 2014;11:E183. CrossRef PubMed
5. Kakietek J, Osuji TA, O’Dell SA, Breck A, Kettel Khan L. Compliance with New York City’s beverage regulations and beverage consumption among children in early child care centers. Prev Chronic Dis 2014;11:E180. CrossRef PubMed
6. Stephens RL, Xu Y, Lesesne CA, Dunn L, Kakietek J, Jernigan J, et al. Relationship between child care centers’ compliance with physical activity regulations and children’s physical activity, New York City, 2010. Prev Chronic Dis 2014;11:E179. CrossRef PubMed
7. Benjamin SE, Neelon B, Ball SC, Bangdiwala SI, Ammerman AS, Ward DS. Reliability and validity of a nutrition and physical activity environmental self-assessment for child care. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 2007;4:29. CrossRef PubMed
8. Ammerman AS, Benjamin SE, Somers JK, Ward DS. Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (NAP SACC) environmental self-assessment instrument. Raleigh (NC): Division of Public Health, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, and Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; 2004. http://www.centertrt.org/content/docs/Intervention_Documents/Intervention_Materials/NAP_SACC/Intervention_Materials/Self-assessment_instrument.pdf. Accessed July 2, 2014.
9. Welk GJ, Corbin CB, Dale D. Measurement issues in the assessment of physical activity in children. Res Q Exerc Sport 2000;71(2, Suppl):S59–73. PubMed
10. Brown WH, Pfeiffer KA, McIver KL, Dowda M, Almeida MJ, Pate RR. Assessing preschool children’s physical activity: the Observational System for Recording Physical Activity in Children — Preschool Version. Res Q Exerc Sport 2006;77(2):167–76. PubMed
11. McKenzie TL, Sallis JF, Nader PR, Patterson TL, Elder JP, Berry CC, et al. BEACHES: an observational system for assessing children’s eating and physical activity behaviors and associated events. J Appl Behav Anal 1991;24(1):141–51. CrossRef PubMed
12. Ward D, Hales D, Haverly K, Marks J, Benjamin S, Ball S, et al. An instrument to assess the obesogenic environment of child care centers. Am J Health Behav 2008;32(4):380–6. CrossRef PubMed
13. Sirard JR, Pate RR. Physical activity assessment in children and adolescents. Sports Med 2001;31(6):439–54. CrossRef PubMed
14. Oliver M, Schofield GM, Kolt GS. Physical activity in preschoolers: understanding prevalence and measurement issues. Sports Med 2007;37(12):1045–70.CrossRef PubMed
15. Ball SC, Benjamin SE, Ward DS. Development and reliability of an observation method to assess food intake of young children in child care. J Am Diet Assoc 2007;107(4):656–61. CrossRef PubMed
16. Gittelsohn J, Shankar AV, Pokhrel RP, West KP Jr. Accuracy of estimating food intake by observation. J Am Diet Assoc 1994;94(11):1273–7. CrossRefPubMed
17. Ammerman AS, Ward DS, Benjamin SE, Ball SC, Sommers JK, Molloy M, et al. An intervention to promote healthy weight: Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (NAP SACC) theory and design. Prev Chronic Dis 2007;4(3):A67. http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2007/jul/06_0115.htm. Accessed January 21, 2012. PubMed