In the United States, childhood obesity continues to increase at unprecedented rates. School-based occupational therapists can play a more significant role in health promotion and obesity prevention efforts in the school setting. Since this is a relatively new role for occupational therapists, there is still a tremendous gap in the literature…

Early care and education settings are essential partners in the battle against childhood obesity. We describe an Extension-facilitated early childhood obesity prevention intervention conducted in 25 rural early care and education settings. A total of 148 policy, systems, or environmental changes were achieved, reaching approximately 450 young…

Obesity prevention in youth is a health priority, and teaching healthy habits toward this end is one of a school nurse's many responsibilities. A school nurse developed and implemented a school-wide, 2-week-long Activity and Nutrition Challenge (ANC) using the evidence-based 5-2-1-0 initiative to prevent and fight childhood obesity. Despite…

Background: Schools are frequent settings for childhood obesity prevention; however, intervention results are mixed. Classroom context may hold important clues to improving these interventions. Methods: We used mixed methods to examine classroom context during a curriculum intervention taught by trained instructors in fifth grade classrooms. We…

Background: Long-term evaluation studies reveal that high-quality early care and education (ECE) programs that include a lifestyle component predict later adult health outcomes. The purpose of this article is to characterize the nutrition and physical activity (PA) practices, including implementation difficulty and barriers, of licensed center-…

Through reinforcement of policies and nutrition standards linked to the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), school environments play an important role in preventing childhood obesity. The NSLP includes mandated nutrition standards that specify recommended servings of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, dairy and protein, as well as limits on…

Partnering early childhood education and care (ECEC) and the home together may be more effective in combating obesogenic risk factors in preschool children. Thus, an evaluation of ECEC obesity prevention interventions with a parental component was conducted, exploring parental engagement and its effect on obesity and healthy lifestyle outcomes. A…

The rate of early childhood overweight and obesity in the United States has increased significantly over the last 30 years. The psychosocial risks of potential stigmatization and discrimination in an overweight child can cause low-esteem and/or reduced school performance. Overweight and obese children also face the increased health risks…

Obesity is a significant public health issue affecting even our youngest children. Given that a significant amount of young children are enrolled in child care, the goal of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of a child care facility-based obesity prevention program. Over 1,000 facilities participated in the study. The intervention…

There have been revolutionary advances in the last decade in researcher's understanding of the genesis of life course health from the critical formative experiences before birth. Even more striking are the factors in a mother's developmental and nutritional history and experience that shape her health, a healthy pregnancy and delivery, and the…

Purpose/Objectives: This study examined motivational aspects related to selecting school nutrition leadership as a career by registered dietitians (RDs). Motivational aspects were defined as valued characteristics which influence individuals' desires for specific work environments. Aspects of job satisfaction were also explored. Methods: An online…

School-based childhood obesity prevention programs have grown in response to reductions in child physical activity (PA), increased sedentariness, poor diet, and soaring child obesity rates. Multiple systematic reviews indicate school-based obesity prevention/treatment interventions are effective, yet few studies have examined the school nurse role…

These are the key findings from the "From Best Practices to Breakthrough Impacts: A Science-Based Approach to Building a More Promising Future for Young Children and Families". Early childhood is a time of great promise and rapid change, when the architecture of the developing brain is most open to the influences of relationships and…

A new dialogue-based curriculum combines nutrition, active play and parenting practices to help parents and caregivers gain skills that promote healthy habits for themselves and their families and to create healthy environments where children live, learn, and play. Graduates report significant improvements in behaviors that promote healthy weights…

Healthy students perform better. Poor nutrition and inadequate physical activity can affect not only academic achievement, but also other factors such as absenteeism, classroom behavior, ability to concentrate, self-esteem, cognitive performance, and test scores. This toolkit provides information to help make schools the model for healthier…