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'Boden Food Plate': Novel Interactive Web-based Method for the Assessment of Dietary Intake
Published on: September 18, 2018
Childcare service centers' preferences and intentions to use a web-based program to implement healthy eating and
Sze Lin Yoong1, Christopher Michael Williams, Meghan Finch
1Hunter New England Local Health District, Hunter New England Population Health, Wallsend, Australia. serene.yoong@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au.
Insights
Childcare centers show high interest in using web-based programs to promote healthy eating and physical activity. Managers found features like decision-support tools and resource links highly useful for staff implementation.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Childhood Obesity Prevention
- Digital Health Interventions
Background:
- Childhood overweight and obesity is a global public health concern.
- Childcare centers are key settings for implementing obesity prevention strategies.
- Electronic web-based interventions offer a novel approach to support childcare providers.
Purpose of the Study:
- Assess technology use in childcare centers.
- Identify factors influencing intention to use web-based interventions.
- Determine useful features for web-based programs supporting healthy practices.
Main Methods:
- Computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) with 214 childcare service managers.
- Assessed technology use, intention to use a hypothetical web-based program (Technology Acceptance Model), and desired features.
- Used multivariable logistic regression to analyze intention to use.
Main Results:
- High intention (71.9%) to use web-based programs was reported.
- Perceived ease of use (OR 3.9) and usefulness (OR 28.9) significantly predicted intention.
- Useful features included decision-support for menu planning, resource links, guideline updates, and performance feedback.
Conclusions:
- Childcare managers are receptive to web-based programs for promoting healthy eating and physical activity.
- Specific features are desired to support staff implementation of policies and practices.
- Further research is needed to develop and evaluate such digital interventions.
Background:
Overweight and obesity is a significant public health problem that impacts a large number of children globally. Supporting childcare centers to deliver healthy eating and physical activity-promoting policies and practices is a recommended strategy for obesity prevention, given that such services provide access to a substantial proportion of children during a key developmental period. Electronic Web-based interventions represent a novel way to support childcare service providers to implement such policies and practices.
Objective:
This study aimed to assess: (1) childcare centers' current use of technology, (2) factors associated with intention to use electronic Web-based interventions, and (3) Web-based features that managers rated as useful to support staff with implementing healthy eating and physical activity-promoting policies and practices.
Methods:
A computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) was conducted with service managers from long day care centers and preschools. The CATI assessed the following: (1) childcare center characteristics, (2) childcare centers' use of electronic devices, (3) intention to use a hypothetical electronic Web-based program-assessed using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with ratings between 1 (strongly disagree) and 7 (strongly agree), and (4) features rated as useful to include in a Web-based program.
Results:
Overall, 214 service centers out of 277 (77.3%) consented to participate. All service centers except 2 reported using computers (212/214, 99.1%), whereas 40.2% (86/214) used portable tablets. A total of 71.9% (151/210) of childcare service managers reported a score of 6 or more for intention to use a hypothetical electronic Web-based program. In a multivariable logistic regression analysis, intention to use the program was significantly associated with perceived ease of use (P=.002, odds ratio [OR] 3.9, 95% CI 1.6-9.2) and perceived usefulness (P<.001, OR 28,95% CI 8.0-95.2). Features reported by service managers as useful or very useful for a Web-based program included decision-support tools to support staff with menu planning (117/129, 90.7%), links to relevant resources (212/212, 100%), updated information on guidelines (208/212, 98.1%), and feedback regarding childcare center performance in relation to other childcare centers (212/212, 100%).
Conclusions:
Childcare service managers reported high intention to use a Web-based program and identified several useful features to support staff to implement healthy eating and physical activity policies and practices. Further descriptive and intervention research examining the development and use of such a program to support childcare centers with the implementation of healthy eating and physical activity-promoting policies and practices is warranted.
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