Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The aim of the study was twofold: (a) describe behavioral and psychosocial characteristics of Head Start childcare providers including technology use, physical activity, nutrition, depression, and quality of life and (b) examine associations among these characteristics. Using a cross-sectional design, a nonrandom sample of 80 Head Start childcare providers completed an online survey via SurveyMonkey. About 80.1% were overweight or obese. Nearly all had a computer or smartphone. About 55% met the national physical activity recommendation of 150 min/week. Approximately 56.2% did not know the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables, and 26.3% had ≥3 servings of vegetables per day. About 38.8% had major depression or dysthymia, and 31.3% had depressive symptoms. The top two perceived health needs were weight loss and stress management. Providing a health promotion and stress management program to childcare providers may benefit both providers and children, considering the strong influence of teachers on children.

Keywords

Head Start childcare provider physical activity nutrition depression quality of life school nurse

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alhassan

Whitt-Glover

M. C.

(2014). Intervention fidelity in a teacher-led program to promote physical activity in preschool-age children. Preventive Medicine, 69, S34–S36. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.07.024

Asakura

Todoriki

Sasaki

(2017). Relationship between nutrition knowledge and dietary intake among primary school children in Japan: Combined effect of children’s and their guardians’ knowledge. Journal of Epidemiology. doi:10.1016/j.je.2016.09.014

Baker

C. N.

Kupersmidt

J. B.

Voegler-Lee

M. E.

Arnold

D. H.

Willoughby

M. T.

(2010). Predicting teacher participation in a classroom-based, integrated preventive intervention for preschoolers. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25, 270–283. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2009.09.005

Balk-Moller

N. C.

Poulsen

S. K.

Larsen

T. M.

(2017). Effect of a nine-month web- and app-based workplace intervention to promote healthy lifestyle and weight loss for employees in the social welfare and health care sector: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 19, e108. doi:10.2196/jmir.6196

Billings

D. W.

Cook

R. F.

Hendrickson

Dove

D. C.

(2008). A web-based approach to managing stress and mood disorders in the workforce. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 50, 960–968. doi:10.1097/JOM.0b013e31816c435b

Child Trends. (2014). The Health and well-being of early childhood educators: A need for compassion and commitment. Retrieved from http://www.childtrends.org/the-health-and-well-being-of-early-childhood-educators-a-need-for-compassion-and-commitment/

Craig

C. L.

Marshall

A. L.

Sjostrom

Bauman

A. E.

Booth

M. L.

Ainsworth

B. E.

… Oja

(2003). International physical activity questionnaire: 12-country reliability and validity. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 35, 1381–1395. doi:10.1249/01.Mss.0000078924.61453.Fb

The Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2014). PF3.2: Enrolment in childcare and pre-schools. Retrieved from www.oecd.org/social/family/database

Engstrom

J. L.

Paterson

S. A.

Doherty

Trabulsi

Speer

K. L.

(2003). Accuracy of self-reported height and weight in women: An integrative review of the literature. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, 48, 338–345.

10.

Esquivel

M. K.

Nigg

C. R.

Fialkowski

M. K.

Braun

K. L.

Novotny

(2016). Influence of teachers’ personal health behaviors on operationalizing obesity prevention policy in Head Start preschools: A project of the Children’s Healthy Living program (CHL). Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 48, 318–325 e311. doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2016.02.007

11.

File

(2013). Computer and internet use in the United States. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau.

12.

Flegal

K. M.

Kruszon-Moran

Carroll

M. D.

Fryar

C. D.

Ogden

C. L.

(2016). Trends in obesity among adults in the United States, 2005 to 2014. Journal of the American Medical Association, 315, 2284–2291. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.6458

13.

Gold

Smith

Hopper

Herne

Tansey

Hulland

(2010). Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for primary school teachers. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 19, 184–189. doi:10.1007/s10826-009-9344-0

14.

Heber

Ebert

D. D.

Lehr

Cuijpers

Berking

Nobis

Riper

(2017). The benefit of web- and computer-based interventions for stress: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 19, e32. doi:10.2196/jmir.5774

15.

Hendy

H. M.

Raudenbush

(2000). Effectiveness of teacher modeling to encourage food acceptance in preschool children. Appetite, 34, 61–76. doi:10.1006/appe.1999.0286

16.

Hou

S. I.

Charlery

S. A.

Roberson

(2014). Systematic literature review of Internet interventions across health behaviors. Health Psychology & Behavioral Medicine, 2, 455–481. doi:10.1080/21642850.2014.895368

17.

Hoy

M. K.

Goldman

J. D.

Sebastian

R. S.

(2016). Fruit and vegetable intake of US adults estimated by two methods: What we eat in America, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2009-2012. Public Health Nutrition, 19, 2508–2512. doi:10.1017/S1368980016000628

18.

Hughes

S. O.

Patrick

Power

T. G.

Fisher

J. O.

Anderson

C. B.

Nicklas

T. A.

(2007). The impact of child care providers’ feeding on children’s food consumption. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 28, 100–107. doi:10.1097/01.DBP.0000267561.34199.a9

19.

IPAQ core group. (2005). International physical activity questionnaire. Retrieved from http://www.ipaq.ki.se/ipaq.htm

20.

Ling

Robbins

L. B.

Wen

Peng

(2015). Interventions to increase physical activity in children aged 2–5 years: A systematic review. Pediatric Exercise Science, 27, 314–333. doi:10.1123/pes.2014-0148

21.

Ling

Robbins

L. B.

Wen

Zhang

(2017). Lifestyle interventions in preschool children: A meta-analysis of effectiveness. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 53, 102–112. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2017.01.018

22.

Lorant

Deliege

Eaton

Robert

Philippot

Ansseau

(2003). Socioeconomic inequalities in depression: A meta-analysis. American Journal of Epidemiology, 157, 98–112.

23.

Maglinte

G. A.

Hays

R. D.

Kaplan

R. M.

(2012). US general population norms for telephone administration of the SF-36v2. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 65, 497–502.

24.

Martens

B. K.

Witt

J. C.

Elliott

S. N.

Darveaux

D. X.

(1985). Teacher judgments concerning the acceptability of school-based interventions. Professional Psychology-Research and Practice, 16, 191–198. doi:10.1037/0735-7028.16.2.191

25.

Martin-Rodriguez

Guillen-Grima

Auba

Marti

Brugos-Larumbe

(2016). Relationship between body mass index and depression in women: A 7-year prospective cohort study. The APNA study. European Psychiatry, 32, 55–60. doi:10.1016/j.eurpsy.2015.11.003

26.

Matusik

Malecka-Tendera

(2011). Overweight prevention strategies in preschool children. International Journal of Pediatric Obesity, 6, 2–5. doi:10.3109/17477166.2011.613651

27.

McHorney

C. A.

Ware

J. E.

Jr Raczek

A. E.

(1993). The MOS 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36): II. Psychometric and clinical tests of validity in measuring physical and mental health constructs. Medical Care, 31, 247–263.

28.

Murray

(2012). Web-based interventions for behavior change and self-management: Potential, pitfalls, and progress. Med 2 0, 1, e3. doi:10.2196/med20.1741

29.

National Institute of Mental Health. (2014). Major depression among adults. Retrieved from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/prevalence/major-depression-among-adults.shtml

30.

Parmenter

Wardle

(1999). Development of a general nutrition knowledge questionnaire for adults. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 53, 298–308. doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1600726

31.

Pirouznia

(2001). The association between nutrition knowledge and eating behavior in male and female adolescents in the US. International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, 52, 127–132. doi:10.1080/713671772

32.

RAND Health. (2014). Depression screener from RAND health. Retrieved from http://www.rand.org/health/surveys_tools/depression.html

33.

Sharma

Dortch

K. S.

Byrd-Williams

Truxillio

J. B.

Rahman

G. A.

Bonsu

Hoelscher

(2013). Nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes, and dietary behaviors among head start teachers in Texas: A cross-sectional study. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 113, 558–562. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2013.01.003

34.

Shloim

Edelson

L. R.

Martin

Hetherington

M. M.

(2015). Parenting styles, feeding styles, feeding practices, and weight status in 4–12 year-old children: A systematic review of the literature. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1849. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01849

35.

Tucker

J. M.

Welk

G. J.

Beyler

N. K.

(2011). Physical activity in U.S.: Adults compliance with the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 40, 454–461. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2010.12.016

36.

U.S. Department of Agriculture. (2013). United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Retrieved from http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=14393

37.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2017). About the office of Head Start. Retrieved from https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ohs/about

38.

Ware

J. E.

Jr Sherbourne

C. D.

(1992). The MOS 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36). I. Conceptual framework and item selection. Medical Care, 30, 473–483.

39.

Whitaker

R. C.

Becker

B. D.

Herman

A. N.

Gooze

R. A.

(2013). The physical and mental health of Head Start staff: The Pennsylvania Head Start staff wellness survey, 2012. Preventing Chronic Disease, 10, E181. doi:10.5888/pcd10.130171

40.

World Health Organization. (2017). Global strategy on diet, physical activity & health. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/en/

41.

Zhou

Y. E.

Emerson

J. S.

Levine

R. S.

Kihlberg

C. J.

Hull

P. C.

(2014). Childhood obesity prevention interventions in childcare settings: Systematic review of randomized and nonrandomized controlled trials. American Journal of Health Promotion, 28, e92–e103. doi:10.4278/ajhp.121129-LIT-579

Behavioral and Psychosocial Characteristics Among Head Start Childcare Providers

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References