A Cross-Sectional Study of the Nutrition and Physical Activity Environment in Australian Family Child Care Services

The nutrition and physical activity environment in early childhood education and care services impacts children's diet and physical activity, but this environment is not well understood in family child care (FCC) services.

This study examined the extent to which Australian FCC educators follow best practices for the nutrition and physical activity environment, including potential associations with their demographic characteristics.

A cross-sectional online survey was conducted between September 2023 and October 2023.

Data were collected from a convenience sample of 370 Australian FCC educators, who completed demographic questions before being randomly assigned to the nutrition environment (n = 210) or physical activity environment (n = 160) section of the survey.

The Environment and Policy Assessment and Observation-Self Report tool assessed aspects of the nutrition and physical activity environment on a 0 to 3 scale, with higher scores indicating greater adherence to best practices.

Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the environment. Multiple linear regressions examined associations with demographic variables, including main language spoken at home, remoteness, socioeconomic status, educational attainment, the presence of written nutrition and physical activity policies at the FCC organization, and years of experience in early childhood education and care.

The mean ± SD scores were 2.6 ± 0.3 for feeding practices, 2.4 ± 0.5 for indoor play environment, 2.4 ± 0.5 for physical activity practices, 2.2 ± 0.4 for feeding environment, 1.9 ± 0.5 for outdoor play environment, 1.7 ± 0.6 for nutrition, and 1.7 ± 0.7 for physical activity education. Better socioeconomic conditions were associated with improved feeding practices and outdoor play environments. Having more years of experience working in early childhood education and care was associated with improved nutrition education and outdoor play environments. Having a nutrition or physical activity policy was associated with better education in these areas, and speaking a non-English language at home was associated with poorer feeding practices and outdoor play environments.

Enhancing outdoor play environments, providing educator training, implementing nutrition and physical activity policies, and supporting non-English-speaking, low-income, and inexperienced FCC educators could create better conditions for promoting healthy eating and physical activity within FCC.