Creating Positive Mealtime Environments: Creating Positive Mealtime Environments Emily Rault & Alexa Stern
Introduction: Introduction Childhood eating behaviours Adolescent/Adult food perceptions Poor relationship with food adverse health outcomes Parents influence child feeding practices 95.8% Boroondara children attend childcare services significant teacher impact. 2
Background: Background 8 in 10 Australian parents are concerned about their child’s eating habits (1) 60%- 80% of children aged 3-6 years old experience body dissatisfaction (2) The Young People’s Strategy Survey in Boroondara revealed body image as a top issue alongside peer pressure, violence and bullying. (3) 29/08/2016 Eating Competency 3
Slide4: 4 To increase the awareness of Division of Responsibility (DOR) in early learning educators and parents. This will achieve long term outcomes of eating competency in children aged 2-5 years old attending The Craig Family Centre (children’s services). Aim 4 Division of Responsibility Eating Competency ‘Parents provide, children decide’ ‘Happy and confident eaters’ Aware of feelings: hunger vs. fullness (7) Feel good about eating Behave well at meals Open to try new foods Parents/Guardians/Teachers provide the ’What’ ’Where’ ’When’ (7) Children decide the ‘Whether’ and ‘How much’
Slide5: 5 Surveyed 75% Parents at Craig Family Centre (92 out of 122) 98% parents labelled foods as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ . A total of 85% parents would at least sometimes insist their child finishes their food. Findings Pre-Intervention
Findings Pre-Intervention: Findings Pre-Intervention 6
Findings Post-Intervention : Findings Post-Intervention 7 Topic Post-survey Labelling Foods ’Good’ and ‘Bad’ 100% understood => negative food environments Pressure 100% acknowledged food reward/bribing Responsibility of the child 100% demonstrated understanding of child role in DOR Responsibility of the adult 3 out of 5 staff members did not correctly identify.
Evaluation: Evaluation Process Evaluation Surveyed 75% of parents Focus group & survey, 100% (7/7) early learning educators Book curriculum “Your Body is Awesome” and posters Impact Evaluation 3 out of 4 objectives completed Non-attendance of parents session Outcome Evaluation Staff Upskilled in DOR Future evaluation of interventions 8
Future Recommendations: Future Recommendations Evaluate long term effectiveness of project’s interventions Update Nutrition and Active Play Policy Facilitate parent- teacher communication network Strategies for practical parent education 9
Dissemination: Dissemination Access Health and Community Team Presentation s Newsletter blurb distributed to organisation Handover to supervisors 10
Slide11: 11 Your Body is Awesome
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