Healthy Food Environments in Early Learning Services: An Analysis of Manager Survey Responses, Menus and Policies in Regional New Zealand Early Childhood Education and Care Centres

Pippa McKelvie-Sebileau, Erica D’Souza, David Tipene-Leach, Boyd Swinburn and Sarah Gerritsen
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Pippa McKelvie-Sebileau: School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland 1145, New Zealand
Erica D’Souza: School of Future Environments, AUT University, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
David Tipene-Leach: Research and Innovation Centre, Eastern Institute of Technology, Napier 4112, New Zealand
Boyd Swinburn: School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland 1145, New Zealand
Sarah Gerritsen: School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland 1145, New Zealand

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 8, 1-14

Abstract: Healthy food environments in early childhood play an important role in establishing health-promoting nutritional behaviours for later life. We surveyed Early Learning Services (ELS) in the Hawke’s Bay region of New Zealand and describe common barriers and facilitators to providing a healthy food environment, through descriptive survey analysis and thematic analysis of open-ended questions. We used a policy analysis tool to assess the strength and comprehensiveness of the individual centre’s nutrition policies and we report on the healthiness of menus provided daily in the centres. Sixty-two centres participated and 96.7% had policies on nutrition compared to 86.7% with policies on drinks. Of the 14 full policies provided for analysis, identified strengths were providing timelines for review and encouraging role modelling by teachers. The main weaknesses were communication with parents and staff, lack of nutrition training for staff and absence of policies for special occasion and fundraising food. With regard to practices in the ELS, food for celebrations was more likely to be healthy when provided by the centre rather than brought from home. Food used in fundraising was more likely to be unhealthy than healthy, though <20% of centres reported using food in fundraising. Only 40% of menus analysed met the national guidelines by not including any ‘red’ (unhealthy) items. Centre Managers considered the biggest barriers to improving food environments to be a lack of parental support and concerns about food-related choking. These results highlight the need for future focus in three areas: policies for water and milk-only, celebration and fundraising food; increased nutrition-focused professional learning and development for teachers; and communication between the centre and parents, as a crucial pathway to improved nutrition for children attending NZ early childhood education and care centres.

Keywords: childcare centres; early childhood education and care; child welfare; Child Day Care Centers; food environments; early childhood; nutrition; regional New Zealand (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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