Technical Assistance for Child and Adult Care Food Program in Family Child Care Home
Condition: Nutrition Poor; Health Behavior
MeSH terms: Malnutrition
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study evaluates the effect of a nutrition technical assistance training program for
      family child care home providers on the food they serve young children in their care and the
      food environment in their home. Half the providers will be assigned to the nutrition program
      and the other half will receive a comparison on environmental health.
    

Detailed description: 
      Early care and education (ECE) providers play a vital role in ensuring that young children
      have access to nutritious foods. Over 25% of children in ECE (1.2 million children) attend
      Family Child Care Homes (FCCH). Improvements in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)
      may introduce new barriers for FCCH, which have limited meal preparation capacity. Limited
      research has examined foods served by FCCH providers, and no group randomized trials have
      been conducted using a Community-Based Participatory approach in FCCH and including an
      evaluation of intervention costs.

      Goals: 1. Determine compliance of menus and meals provided in FCCH with CACFP guidelines. 2.
      Determine the effectiveness of a pilot community-based Nutrition Technical Assistance
      intervention to enhance meeting CACFP best-practices. 3. Determine the effectiveness of a
      statewide community-based Nutrition Technical Assistance Intervention to enhance meeting
      CACFP best-practices. 4. Expand university student opportunities for participation in health
      research.

      Methods: Conduct a cross-sectional assessment of a random sample of FCCH providers' (n=52)
      menus and meals served. Foods will be evaluated against the CACFP requirements and
      best-practices. After the cross-sectional examination, providers in the pilot will be
      randomly assigned to a Nutrition Technical Assistance (n=26) or attention comparison
      intervention (n=26). Following the pilot, trained Extension Educators will implement both
      interventions (n=27 intervention, n=27 comparison) in six selected counties, reaching
      underserved rural and low-income populations. The intervention is based on theoretical
      foundations and formative interviews, and will consist of two 60-90-minute visits to the FCCH
      and one group class lasting approximately 3 hours.
    

Intervention name(s): Nutrition assistance; Children's environmental health
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Participating family child care home providers in and around the Oklahoma City (OKC) area will be randomized to either the Nutrition (n=26), or an environmental health comparison group (n=26). Briefly, the Nutrition Technical Assistance Intervention and comparison group will consist of three encounters with the intervention team: two home-based, 90-minute visits scheduled at the convenience of the family child care home provider and a 3-hour group class session that will be conducted on a weekend. Total contact time with intervention staff will be 6 hours. All participants will receive a toolkit. Providers will complete either intervention over a period of three months.; Participating family child care home providers in and around the OKC area will be randomized to either the Nutrition (n=26), or an environmental health intervention (n=26) that will receive an Integrated Pest Management and Green Cleaning intervention with the same format and visit frequency. Briefly, the Intervention will consist of three encounters with the intervention team: two home-based, 90-minute visits scheduled at the convenience of the family child care home provider and a 3-hour group class session that will be conducted on a weekend. Total contact time with intervention staff will be 6 hours. All participants will receive a toolkit. Providers will complete either intervention over a period of three months.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: Randomized trial where family child care home providers (the participant) are randomized to either nutrition or environmental health technical assistance intervention. Interventions are matched for time and contact
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: early childhood education; family child care home; food environment