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Eastern North Carolina Head Start Teachers’ Personal And Professional Experiences With Healthy Eating And Physical Activity: A Qualitative Exploration, Virginia C. Stage, Lorelei Jones, Jocelyn Bayles, Archana V. Hegde, Dipti Dev, L. Suzanne Goodell

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Objective: Explore the interrelationship between teachers’ personal and professional socio-ecological structures while examining Head Start (HS) teachers’ experiences with (1) trying to eat healthy and engage in physical activity (PA) and (2) promote healthy eating and PA in their classrooms.

Design: In-depth semi-structured interviews were collected from March through June 2017. Researchers designed the data collection and analysis methods using a phenomenological approach. All interviews were recorded using digital audio and transcribed verbatim.

Setting: Seven HS centers in two rural eastern North Carolina counties.

Participants: Teachers (n 15) who had recently participated in a healthy eating and physical activity …

Nutrition Education Resources In North Carolina–Based Head Start Preschool Programs: Administrator And Teacher Perceptions Of Availability And Use, Sarah Lisson, L. Suzanne Goodell, Dipti A. Dev, Kristi Wilkerson,, Archana V. Hegde, Virginia C. Stage

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Objective: The purpose of this study was to provide new insight into common barriers to the availability and use of nutrition education (NE) resources in Head Start preschool programs based on administrator and teacher perceptions.

Methods: In-depth, semistructured phone interviews (n = 63) were conducted with administrators (n = 31) and teachers (n = 32) from North Carolina–based Head Start programs. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed qualitatively using content analysis to identify common themes.

Results: Five emergent themes were identified within the areas of NE resource availability and use and barriers to NE resource availability and …

Predictors Of Head Start And Child-Care Providers’ Healthful And Controlling Feeding Practices With Children Aged 2 To 5 Years, Dipti A. Dev, Brent A. Mcbride, Katherine E. Speirs, Sharon M. Donovan, Hyun Keun Cho

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Few child-care providers meet the national recommendations for healthful feeding practices. Effective strategies are needed to address this disparity, but research examining influences on child-care providers’ feeding practices is limited. The purpose of this study was to identify determinants of child-care providers’ healthful and controlling feeding practices for children aged 2 to 5 years. In this cross-sectional study, child-care providers (n = 118) from 24 center-based programs (six Head Start [HS], 11 Child and Adult Care Food Program [CACFP] funded, and seven non-CACFP) completed selfadministered surveys during 2011-2012. Multilevel multivariate linear regression models were used to predict seven feeding practices.Working …