Technical Assistance for Child and Adult Care Food Program in Family Child Care Home
Technical Assistance for Child and Adult Care Food Program in Family Child Care Home
This study evaluates the effect of a nutrition technical assistance training program for
 family child care home providers on the food they serve young children in their care and the
 food environment in their home. Half the providers will be assigned to the nutrition program
 and the other half will receive a comparison on environmental health.
Early care and education (ECE) providers play a vital role in ensuring that young children
 have access to nutritious foods. Over 25% of children in ECE (1.2 million children) attend
 Family Child Care Homes (FCCH). Improvements in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)
 may introduce new barriers for FCCH, which have limited meal preparation capacity. Limited
 research has examined foods served by FCCH providers, and no group randomized trials have
 been conducted using a Community-Based Participatory approach in FCCH and including an
 evaluation of intervention costs.

 Goals: 1. Determine compliance of menus and meals provided in FCCH with CACFP guidelines. 2.
 Determine the effectiveness of a pilot community-based Nutrition Technical Assistance
 intervention to enhance meeting CACFP best-practices. 3. Determine the effectiveness of a
 statewide community-based Nutrition Technical Assistance Intervention to enhance meeting
 CACFP best-practices. 4. Expand university student opportunities for participation in health
 research.

 Methods: Conduct a cross-sectional assessment of a random sample of FCCH providers' (n=52)
 menus and meals served. Foods will be evaluated against the CACFP requirements and
 best-practices. After the cross-sectional examination, providers in the pilot will be
 randomly assigned to a Nutrition Technical Assistance (n=26) or attention comparison
 intervention (n=26). Following the pilot, trained Extension Educators will implement both
 interventions (n=27 intervention, n=27 comparison) in six selected counties, reaching
 underserved rural and low-income populations. The intervention is based on theoretical
 foundations and formative interviews, and will consist of two 60-90-minute visits to the FCCH
 and one group class lasting approximately 3 hours.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Family child care home providers within 60 minutes of Oklahoma City who participate in
 the Child and Adults Care Food Program

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  none