Environmental Factors Associated with Child Physical Activity at Childcare

Physical activity (PA) at a young age is an important health behavior to prevent childhood obesity and establish healthy PA habits. Because the majority of preschool-age children attend child-care centers, child-care environment can play an important role in promoting PA among this population. This study examined environmental factors associated with children’s moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity More

Analyzing the Associations between Price Promotions and Health Claims on the Nutrient Profile of Food Purchases

Despite substantial literature on how to improve the food environment for children, there has been little work examining how price promotions, nutrient-related claims, and their interactions might be associated with the nutrient profile of food purchases, particularly for lower-income and racial/ethnic minority populations. This study will address these gaps using 2008-2012 data for a demographically More

Evaluating Child-Care Licensing Laws, Policies, and Programs for Nutrition, Active Play, and Screen Time

This study will address the research gap in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of child-care regulation across jurisdictions regarding nutrition, active play, and screen time. Specific aims of the project are to: 1) create and implement a standardized child-care regulatory policy content coding system for key obesity-related indicators; 2) develop an understanding of the child-care More

Testing the Effectiveness of a Double-Dollar Incentive Program to Increase Purchases of Fruits and Vegetables

Currently there is much interest in incentivizing the purchase of healthier food items among lower-income populations. The purpose of this project is to pilot test a double-dollar incentive program traditionally used at farmers’ markets to increase purchases of fresh, frozen, and canned fruits and vegetables in a large grocery store retail setting (Hannaford). Approximately 400 More

State Quality Rating and Improvement Systems: Analysis of Strategies to Support Achievement of Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Best Practices in Early Care and Education Settings

In the 1990s, states began developing Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) as a structural approach to improve the quality of early care and education (ECE) programs. Nemours’ experience implementing obesity prevention efforts in nine states has demonstrated that QRIS systems may be leveraged to promote childhood obesity prevention in addition to school readiness and More

Evaluating Industry Self-Regulation of Food Marketing to Children

In response to growing concern about children’s exposure to unhealthy food advertising, the food industry adopted a program of self-regulation – the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) – with participating companies pledging to limit child-targeted advertising to healthier products. This study assesses the efficacy of industry self-regulation by comparing advertising content on children’s More

An Accountability Evaluation for the Industry’s Responsible Use of Brand Mascots and Licensed Media Characters to Market a Healthy Diet to American Children

This study explored diverse stakeholders’ accountability expectations and actions for industry policies and practices that used cartoon brand mascots and media characters to market foods and beverages to American children. A companion paper examined how media characters may influence diet-related outcomes for children younger than 12 years. Investigators used a four-step accountability framework to identify More