Promoting a healthy diet in preschool children: a qualitative study about early childhood educators' perspectives

Most young children attend daycare regularly, making these institutions valuable in health and nutrition education. This study aimed to explore the Portuguese early childhood educators' perspectives on their role in promoting young children's healthy diets through semi-structured interview...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of early years education 2023-10, Vol.31 (4), p.859-873
Main Authors: Lemos, Rosa, Gomes, Ana Isabel, Barros, Luísa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Class Activities
Diet
Early childhood educators
Early Childhood Teachers
Eating behavior
Family Characteristics
feeding practices
healthy diet
Interviews
Nutrition
Nutrition education
Nutrition Instruction
Preschool Children
Preschool education
qualitative
Semi Structured Interviews
semi-structured interview
Teachers
Young Children
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Most young children attend daycare regularly, making these institutions valuable in health and nutrition education. This study aimed to explore the Portuguese early childhood educators' perspectives on their role in promoting young children's healthy diets through semi-structured interviews with ten educators. We used a thematic analysis approach, and identified six themes: 1) Educators are concerned about children's eating patterns and identify cues that guide them in promoting the child's healthy diet; 2) Educators recognise their role in promoting nutrition education in their direct work children; 3) Educators have clear ideas about methods to promote healthy eating habits, including class activities and feeding practices; 4) Educators reported several childcare centres and children's characteristics that hinder or facilitate their role on promoting children's healthy diet; 5) Educators reported family characteristics that hinder or facilitate their role on promoting children's healthy diet; 6) Supporting families is a more challenging task. These findings can contribute to inform about specific needs for improving training on feeding practices and childcare centre policies regarding food availability and mealtime routines.
ISSN:0966-9760
1469-8463
DOI:10.1080/09669760.2022.2107490