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Results From a Four-State Pilot Study of the Childcare Survey of Activity and Wellness (C-SAW), 2021
Carrie A Dooyema1, Kelly L Dahl1, Nora Geary2
1Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Insights
Early care and education (ECE) settings are crucial for child wellness. The Childcare Survey of Activity and Wellness (C-SAW) assesses nutrition and physical activity (PA) standards in ECE centers, providing data for public health professionals.
Area of Science:
- Child Health and Nutrition
- Public Health Policy
- Early Childhood Education
Background:
- Early care and education (ECE) settings serve millions of young children weekly, presenting opportunities to promote health and wellness.
- National health and wellness standards exist for ECE, but their implementation in daily practices remains unassessed due to inconsistent data collection.
- A standardized method is needed to evaluate the translation of ECE nutrition and physical activity (PA) standards into practice.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce the Childcare Survey of Activity and Wellness (C-SAW) as a standardized tool for assessing health practices in ECE settings.
- To present descriptive data on nutrition, PA, and breastfeeding support in ECE centers across four states.
- To highlight the availability and utility of C-SAW for public health professionals.
Main Methods:
- Development and piloting of the Childcare Survey of Activity and Wellness (C-SAW).
- Standardized survey administered to 221 ECE centers in four states during 2021.
- Descriptive analysis of collected data on nutrition, PA, and breastfeeding support.
Main Results:
- The C-SAW survey provides a consistent method for collecting data on health and wellness practices in ECE.
- Descriptive data from 221 ECE centers in four states were generated using C-SAW.
- The survey and its materials are freely available for public health use.
Conclusions:
- C-SAW is a valuable tool for public health professionals to assess and improve health and wellness in ECE settings.
- Consistent data collection via C-SAW can inform policy and practice improvements for child nutrition and PA.
- The widespread availability of C-SAW supports efforts to enhance child health outcomes in ECE environments.
Abstract:
Approximately 12.5 million young children are cared for in early care and education (ECE) settings at least once per week, making ECE an important setting to support nutrition, physical activity (PA), breastfeeding, and other health and wellness topics. National standards have been developed for the ECE setting, but the extent to which nutrition and PA standards are being translated to everyday policies and practices is unknown, as information has not been collected in a consistent way across states and communities. This brief report provides descriptive data from 221 ECE centers in four states in 2021 using a standardized survey called the Childcare Survey of Activity and Wellness (C-SAW). Information on the development, piloting, resulting descriptive data, and future implications for C-SAW in public health practice are presented in this brief. The C-SAW survey and all ancillary materials are freely available for use by public health professionals in states and communities to better understand ECE programs in their jurisdictions or to evaluate efforts to improve nutrition, PA, breastfeeding, and other health topics over time.
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