Progress 12/15/14 to 12/14/17
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience was undergraduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During the spring 2015 semester (Jan 2015- May 2015), fall 2015 semester (Aug 2015-Dec 2015), and Spring 2016 semester (Jan 2016-May 2016) the project director provided formal classroom instruction to 21 (spring 2015) and 14 (fall 2015 & Spring 2016) undergraduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as part of the course HDFS 494: Transdisciplinary Obesity Prevention Sciences Research Program. The project director co-taught this course with her mentor during the spring 2015 semester and was the instructor of record for this course during the fall 2015 and spring 2016 semesters. In addition to classroom instruction in early childhood obesity prevention and research methods, the students in this class were provided with two experiential learning opportunities. First, they worked in groups of 3-4 students to design, carry out and present original research projects that addressed a topic related to childhood obesity. Second, they completed a research assistantship with a research project conducted by researchers at the Family Resiliency Center at the University of Illinois. During spring 2015, the project director also supervised three of the students enrolled in this course in their assistantships. These students assisted the project director in designing an online survey and data entry and cleaning for the research component of this fellowship project. During fall 2015 & spring 2016, the project director supervised four of the students in their assistantships. These students assisted with preliminary data analysis and coding of qualitative interview data for the fellowship project. These students also worked with the project director to prepare a poster that was presented at the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior annual conference in August 2016. Changes/Problems:A twelve-month no-cost extension was requested and granted for this project. This changed the project expiration date to 12/14/2017. This expanded project period was necessary to complete the research and Extension portions of the project. The Extension portion is contingent on the results from the research portion and analysis of the research findings is currently underway. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project director engaged in training around obesity studies, grantsmanship, and professional development. Dr. Speirs received one-on-one mentorship from a team of five mentors with expertise in program development, childhood obesity, pediatric nutrition, child feeding, and early care and education. She met with Dr. Barbara Fiese every other week and with the rest of the mentorship team (Drs. McBride, Donovan, Ebata, and McCaffery) at least quarterly for mentoring sessions. During these sessions the mentoring team assisted Dr. Speirs with issues related to research, program development, and teaching.The mentorship team also helped Dr. Speirs apply for several faculty positions. She obtained an assistant professor and Extension specialist position at the University of Arizona which she began in August 2016. Additionally, Dr. Speirs audited courses in Pediatric Clinical Nutrition (FSHN 421) taught by Dr. Sharon Donovan and grantsmanship and ethics (NUTR 550) also taught by Dr. Donovan. She attended a workshop on Running Effective Discussions conducted by the University of Illinois' Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?This project has been presented in several different settings. It was presented as a paper at the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Fellows Program Project Directors' Meeting in Washington, DC on August 4-5, 2015 to NIFA staff and other project directors. It was also presented as a webinar for the USDA-NIFA 2015 Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition Seminar Series on October 15, 2015 to a diverse audience including professionals working in food safety and nutrition, dietetic interns, Extension educators, federal employees, graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. It was presented to Head Start teachers and administrators at the National Head Start Association's2015Parent and Family Engagement Conference in San Diego, CA on December 1- 4, 2015. Finally, it was presented to nutrition education professionals, practitioners, and researchers at the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior Annual Conference in San Diego, CA on July 30 - August 2. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Please note a no-cost extension was requested and granted for this project which will move the end date to 12/14/2017. During the next reporting period I plan to do the following activities to meet the three project objectives. Objective 1: Conduct a research project to identify the barriers to using responsive feeding practices by examining child care providers' knowledge, motivation, and behavioral skills concerning responsive feeding. 1. Complete analysis of the survey and interview data. 2. Prepare and submit at least one paper for publication. Objective 2: Apply what was learned during the research project to develop online Extension materials to help child care providers nationwide use responsive feeding practices. 1. Complete online Extension materials to help providers overcome barriers to using responsive feeding practices. 2.Pilot test and then disseminate and evaluate these Extension materials. Objective 3: Teach a transdisciplinary research methods course to educate undergraduate students about research and extension programing related to early childhood obesity prevention. 1. This objective is complete.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This project addressed childhood obesity by improving feeding practices in child care settings. Feeding practices (or decisions about what, when, and how to feed young children) impact the foods children eat as well as lifelong food preferences and eating habits. Controlling feeding practices are an established risk factor for obesity and child care programs are an efficacious setting for obesity prevention as preschool-aged children eat many of their meals in these settings. Additionally, this project prepared a cohort of undergraduate students to tackle the challenge of childhood obesity as young professionals by providing formal classroom instruction and experimental learning opportunities as part of a multidisciplinary course on childhood obesity and prevention strategies. In particular, the project director conducted a research study that included surveys with 374 child care providers and in-depth interviews with a sub-sample of 50 child care providers to learn more about the feeding practices child care providers use and how they make decisions about how to feed young children. This research was undertaken in order to inform the development of online educational materials for child care providers. The data analysis is ongoing but preliminary results from analysis of the survey data suggest that there are differences in the feeding practices based on type of care facility. Head Start teachers are most likely to use feeding practices that promote healthy eating habits and least likely to use practices that are associated with negative outcomes when compared with home-based providers and center-based providers who were not employed at a Head Start center. Findings from preliminary analysis of the interview data suggest that, in general, the providers in this sample were concerned about young children eating too little rather than overeating. For some providers, a concern about undereating led them to pressure children to eat which may override a child's innate ability to self-regulate energy intake. Results from this project suggest a need for training around feeding practices, especially for non-Head Start center-based providers and home-based providers. Training content should address role modeling healthy eating and avoiding using preferred foods or pressure to encourage consumption of new or less preferred foods. Education should also be provided around the negative long-term outcomes associated with using pressure. Additionally, all providers should be made aware of family-style meal service and how it may promote children's self-regulation of energy intake and the development of healthy eating habits. The following activities were completed for each objective. Objective #1: Conduct a research project to identify the barriers to using responsive feeding practices by examining child care providers' knowledge, motivation, and behavioral skills concerning responsive feeding. 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted: A short survey was used to collect demographic data, information about participants' feeding practices, training needs and preferences, and access to and use of technology and to allow for the selection of an interview sample that included providers from five contexts: Head Start centers, Child and Adult Care Food program (CACFP)-participating settings (both centers and home-based facilities), and care settings that were not participating in CACFP or Head Start (both centers and home-based facilities). Additionally, in-depth interviews were conducted with child care providers from these five settings in order to determine providers' knowledge, motivation, and behavioral skills concerning responsive feeding. 2) Data collected: Survey data was collected from 374 child care providers and in-depth interviews were conducted with 50 child care providers. 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results: Data analysis is on-going but preliminary results suggest the following findings: 1. The child care providers in the interview sample did not understand the benefits of family style meal service (a recommended method for serving young children meals) for the development of healthy eating habits and some were reluctant to use this style of serving children. 2. The child care providers in the interview sample were more concerned that children would not eat enough food than that they would overeat and reported using pressure to encourage children to finish a meal or eat healthy foods. Pressuring children to eat has been linked to negative outcomes. 3. The child care providers in the interview sample found it challenging to talk with parents about concerns about a child's weight and obesity in general. Some providers found these discussions so difficult that they avoided them. 4. The providers in the survey sample were not using recommended responsive feeding practices. Less than half the sample reported eating the same foods as the children and role modeling healthy eating for the children. 5. Using the survey data we found statistically significant differences in the use of responsive and controlling feeding practices based on child care setting. Compared to home-based providers, Head Start (HS) teachers and center-based providers were less likely to use food as a reward, more likely to role model healthy eating, and more likely to always eat the same foods as the children. Head Start teachers were more likely and center-based providers less likely than home-based providers to have attended a training. 6. The survey data also suggests that there are differences in participation in trainings about mealtimes or how to serve food to preschool-aged children by child care setting. Providers in Head Start and home-based care facilities were more likely to have participated in such a training than center-based providers. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized: The project director developed new knowledge around the feeding practices used by child care providers and their access to training around feeding practices, as described above. This knowledge will be submitted for publication in scholarly journals and used to develop online educational materials for child care providers. Objective #2: Apply what was learned during the research project to develop online Extension materials to help child care providers nationwide use responsive feeding practices. 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted: Initial planning for the development of the online Extension materials has taken place. A no-cost extension has been requested so that this portion of the project can be completed. 2) Data collected: None. 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results: None. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized: None. Objective #3: Teach a transdisciplinary research methods course to educate undergraduate students about research and Extension programing related to early childhood obesity prevention. 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted: Three semesters of HDFS 494: Transdisciplinary Obesity Prevention Sciences Research Program were taught by the project director. 2) Data collected: N/A 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results: N/A 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized: As a result of participating in HDFS 494, 35 undergraduate students experienced a change in knowledge. These students learned about and gained skills in topics related to childhood obesity (e.g. the relationship between cancer and childhood obesity, the importance of sleep for healthy development, and federally funded children's food programs) as well as professional development (e.g. interviewing and informational interviews, professional networks and mentors, and giving and receiving feedback). These students also received experiential learning opportunities around research methods and designed, conducted, and presented their own research projects.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Speirs, K.E., Dahlberg, E., Gonrong, P., Liu, R. and Tepede, A. 2016. Feeding for the future: Child care providers feeding practices and access to training. Poster presented at the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior Annual Conference, San Diego, CA, July 30 - August 2.
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Progress 12/15/14 to 12/14/15
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience reached during this period was undergraduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During the spring 2015 semester (Jan 2015- May 2015) and the fall 2015 semester (Aug 2015-Dec 2015) the project director provided formal classroom instruction to 21 (spring 2015) and 14 (fall 2015) undergraduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as part of the course HDFS 494: Transdisciplinary Obesity Prevention Sciences Research Program. The project director co-taught this course with her mentor during the spring 2015 semester and was the instructor of record for this course during the fall 2015 semester. In addition to classroom instruction in early childhood obesity prevention and research methods, the students in this class were also provided with two experiential learning opportunities. First, they worked in groups of 3-4 students to design, carry out and present original research projects that addressed a topic related to childhood obesity. Second, they completed a research assistantship with a research project conducted by researchers at the Family Resiliency Center at the University of Illinois. During spring 2015, the project director also supervised 3 of the students enrolled in this course in their assistantships. These students assisted the project director in designing an online survey and data entry and cleaning for the research component of this fellowship project. During fall 2015, the project director supervised 4 of the students in their assistantships. These students assisted with data analysis for this fellowship project. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?During this reporting period the project director engaged in training around obesity studies, grantsmanship, and professional development. In particular, she audited courses in Pediatric Clinical Nutrition (FSHN 421) taught by Dr. Sharon Donovan and grantsmanship and ethics (NUTR 550) also taught by Dr. Donovan. She attended a workshop on Running Effective Discussions conducted by the University of Illinois's Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?This project has been presented in three different settings. First, it was presented as a paper at the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Fellows Program Project Directors' Meeting in Washington, DC on August 4-5, 2015 to NIFA staff and other project directors. Second, it was presented as a webinar for the USDA-NIFA 2015 Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition Seminar Series on October 15, 2015 to a diverse audience including professionals working in food safety and nutrition, dietetic interns, extension educators, federal employees, graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. Third, it was presented to Head Start teachers and administrators at the National Head Start Association's2015Parent and Family Engagement Conference in San Diego, CA on December 1- 4, 2015. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period I plan to do the following activities to meet the three project objectives. Objective 1: Conduct a research project to identify the barriers to using responsive feeding practices by examining child care providers' knowledge, motivation, and behavioral skills concerning responsive feeding. 1. Analysis of the survey and interview data will continue. 2. I will prepare and submit a paper for publication. Objective 2: Apply what was learned during the research project to develop online Extension materials to help child care providers nationwide use responsive feeding practices. 1. Online Extension materials to help providers overcome barriers to using responsive feeding practices will be developed.2. These Extension materials will be pilot tested and then disseminated and evaluated. Objective 3: Teach a transdisciplinary research methods course to educate undergraduate students about research and Extension programing related to early childhood obesity prevention. 1. I will teach a transdisciplinary research methods course to undergraduate students at the University of Illinois during the Spring 2016 semester.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The impact of this project during this reporting period was to provide formal classroom instruction and experiential learning opportunities for 21 undergraduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. These students were enrolled in a year-long multidisciplinary field-based research course during which they gained research experience by conducting research projects in multidisciplinary teams and presenting them at an undergraduate research symposium. Additionally, students learned about research by participating in the research component of this AFRI fellowship as research assistants. Students also received training in the ethical conduct of human research and participated in professional development activities. In particular, the following activities were completed for each objective. Below I list the objective followed by the activities accomplished during this reporting period. Objective #1: Conduct a research project to identify the barriers to using responsive feeding practices by examining child care providers' knowledge, motivation, and behavioral skills concerning responsive feeding. 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted: A short survey was added to the research component in order to collect demographic data as well as information about participants' feeding practices, training needs and preferences, and access to and use of technology and to allow for the selection of an interview sample that included providers from five contexts: Head Start centers, Child and Adult Care Food program (CACFP) participating settings (both centers and home-based facilities), and care settings that were not participating in CACFP or Head Start (both centers and home-based facilities). Additionally, in-depth interviews were conducted with child care providers from these five settings in order to determine providers' knowledge, motivation, and behavioral skills concerning responsive feeding. 2) Data collected: Survey data was collected from 374 child care providers and in-depth interviews were conducted with 50 child care providers. 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results: Data analysis is on-going but preliminary results suggest the following findings: The child care providers in the interview sample did not understand the benefits of family style meal service (a recommended method for serving young children meals) for the development of healthy eating habits and some were reluctant to use this style of serving children. The child care providers in the interview sample were more concerned that children would not eat enough food than that they would over-eat and reported using pressure to encourage children to finish a meal or eat healthy foods. Pressuring children to eat has been linked to negative outcomes. The child care providers in the interview sample found it challenging to talk with parents about concerns about a child's weight and obesity in general. Some providers found these discussions so difficult that they avoided them. The providers in the survey sample were not using recommended responsive feeding practices. Less than half the sample reported eating the same foods as the children and role modeling healthy eating for the children. Using the survey data we found differences in the use of responsive and controlling feeding practices based on child care setting. Compared to home-based providers, Head Start (HS) teachers and center-based providers were less likely to use food as a reward (p< .001 and p<.05, respectively), more likely to role model healthy eating (p< .001 and p< .001), and more likely to always eat the same foods as the children (p< .001 and p< .001). Head Start teachers were more likely (p<.05) and center-based providers less likely (p<.01) than home-based providers to have attended a training. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized: There are no key outcomes for this reporting period. Objective #2: Apply what was learned during the research project to develop online Extension materials to help child care providers nationwide use responsive feeding practices. 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted: As stated in the original plan, this objective will be met during the second year of the project (this report covers the first year of the project). However, some initial planning for the development of the online Extension materials took place during this reporting period. 2) Data collected: No data was collected during this reporting period. 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results: There are no results to report. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized: There are no key outcomes for this reporting period. Objective #3: Teach a transdisciplinary research methods course to educate undergraduate students about research and Extension programing related to early childhood obesity prevention. 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted: Two semesters of HDFS 494: Transdisciplinary Obesity Prevention Sciences Research Program were taught by the project director. 2) Data collected: N/A 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results: N/A 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized: As a result of participating in HDFS 494, 35 undergraduate students experienced a change in knowledge. These students learned about and gained skills in topics related to childhood obesity (e.g. the relationship between cancer and childhood obesity, the importance of sleep for healthy development, and federally funded children's food programs) as well as professional development (e.g. interviewing and informational interviews, professional networks and mentors, and giving and receiving feedback). These students also received experiential learning opportunities around research methods and designed, conducted, and presented their own research projects.
Publications
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