Childcare and Meal Provision: A Systematic Literature Review.
Brett A Eiffes1, Sarah A White1, Sophia M Navarro1
1Mathematica, Washington, DC 20002, United States.
Nutrition Reviews
|March 14, 2025
Summary
Many childcare providers don't join the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), missing out on benefits. This review examines meal practices and barriers to CACFP participation for eligible providers.
Area of Science:
- Nutrition Science
- Public Health Policy
- Childcare Research
Background:
- The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) supports nutrition in childcare settings.
- Despite CACFP's benefits, participation among eligible providers is suboptimal.
- Barriers to CACFP enrollment remain underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize meal service operations for CACFP-participating and non-participating childcare providers.
- To identify differences in childcare setting characteristics based on CACFP participation.
- To synthesize existing literature on barriers and facilitators of CACFP enrollment.
Main Methods:
- Systematic literature review of studies from 2013-2023.
- Inclusion criteria: meal service operations/practices in childcare settings (birth-5 years).
- Thematic synthesis of extracted data on study characteristics, meal services, childcare attributes, and CACFP participation factors.
Main Results:
- 37 articles were included; 30 used cross-sectional designs and were published 2018-2022.
- Most studies (30) detailed childcare characteristics.
- 19 studies compared meal services, and 18 identified CACFP participation barriers/facilitators.
Conclusions:
- Findings highlight opportunities to enhance CACFP participation.
- Further research is needed on non-participating providers.
- Increased geographic diversity in research is recommended.
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