Focus Area: Early Childhood

Conducting Research to Promote Healthy Weight Gain During Children’s First 1,000 Days, Particularly Among Disproportionately Burdened Populations

By

The first 1,000 days describes the period from pre-pregnancy through age 2 years, and is increasingly recognized as a critical period for development of childhood obesity. The overall goal of this study is to develop and refine health messaging for future interventions among families living in Washington Heights, a low-income New York City neighborhood with More

Assessing the Effectiveness of Oregon’s Farm-to-School Program in Providing Locally Grown, Nutritious Foods to Low-Income, Minority Students

By

In 2011, Oregon passed a Farm to School (F2S) bill which provided significant funding for F2S programs and explicitly prioritized F2S education grants for schools serving lower-income students. The aims of the study are to: 1) assess the effectiveness of Oregon’s F2S policy in increasing schools’ and districts’ perceived access to state funds and program More

Examining Home-Visiting Strategies to Prevent Obesity Among American Indians, Focusing on Early Childhood Outcomes and Water Insecurity

By

Reservation-based American Indian (AI) children suffer the highest rates of childhood obesity in the United States. This project will provide evidence to support the integration of childhood obesity prevention modules into government-funded home-visiting programs. It will also identify the role of water insecurity in sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake. The specific aims of the study are More

Using State Laws & Regulations to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity in Afterschool Programs

By

Out-of-School time (OST) programs are a promising setting for reducing child obesity risk by promoting healthy eating and providing opportunities for physical activity. The Healthy Out-of-School Time Coalition developed the National AfterSchool Association Healthy Eating and Physical Activity standards in 2011 to provide comprehensive guidance on how to promote healthy eating and physical activity. To More

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

By

In the early 2000s, states began developing Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) as a structural approach to improve the quality of Early Care and Education (ECE) programs. QRIS are voluntary or required systems designed to reach large numbers of ECE providers, particularly those serving lower-income children receiving child-care subsidies. The topics covered by QRIS More

Enhancing the Use of the Environment and Policy Assessment and Observation (EPAO) Tool in Early Care and Education Settings

By

The Environment and Policy Assessment and Observation (EPAO) is a tool designed to evaluate practices, environmental attributes, and policies of early care and education (ECE) settings that influence children’s nutrition and physical activity. The purpose of this project is to provide easy-to-use and readily available resources to facilitate the EPAO tool’s use by researchers and More

The Impact of the First 1,000 Days on Childhood Obesity

By

The first 1,000 days, or the period from conception through age 2, is increasingly recognized as a critical period for the development of childhood obesity and its adverse consequences. This issue brief is based on two review papers that examined evidence on risk factors for developing childhood obesity and interventions that could prevent childhood obesity More

Interventions for Childhood Obesity in the First 1,000 Days: A Systematic Review

By

The first 1,000 days – conception through age 2 – represents an important period for the development and prevention of childhood obesity. This study reviews existing evidence from interventions occurring in the first 1,000 days that included prevention of childhood overweight or obesity as an outcome, identifies gaps in current research, and discusses conceptual frameworks More