Nutrition Topics

• Childhood Obesity
• Federal Food and Nutrition Programs
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  Quality
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SHAPES Study Assesses Childhood Obesity Prevention in Head Start

Head Start, the largest federally funded early childhood education program in the United States, provides services to nearly one million low-income preschool children. Approximately one-third of children entering Head Start are overweight. Head Start uses a holistic approach to promote children’s development, representing a promising setting for addressing childhood obesity. However, there are limited national data on what Head Start programs are doing to promote healthy eating and physical activity.

To learn more about this issue, Mathematica and Temple University conducted the SHAPES study (Study of Healthy Activity and Eating Practices and Environments in Head Start) for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Eating Healthy Research Program. We developed and administered a national survey targeted to Head Start program directors designed to assess their environments and practices for promoting healthy eating and physical activity.

The study, which had a response rate of 87 percent, also examined potential barriers to obesity prevention among Head Start programs, their staff and participating families. We found that most Head Start programs report doing more to support healthy eating and gross motor activity than required by federal performance standards in these areas.

The key nutritional findings included:

• Seventy percent of Head Start programsreported serving only nonfat or one percent fat milk.
• Ninety-four percent of programs reported that each day they served children some fruit other than 100 percent fruit juice; 97 percent reported serving some vegetable other than fried potatoes; and 91 percent reported both of these daily practices.
• Sixty-six percent of programs said they celebrated special events with healthy foods or nonfood treats, and 54 percent did not allow vending machines for staff.

Key findings on promoting physical activity included:

• Eighty-nine percent of programs reported having an on-site outdoor play area at every center.
• Seventy-four percent of programs reported that children were given structured (adult-led or -guided) gross motor activity for at least 30 minutes each day; 73 percent reported that children were given unstructured gross motor activity for at least 30 minutes each day; and 56 percent reported both of these daily practices.

Regarding barriers to obesity prevention, we found:

• Program directors identified the key barriers to preventing obesity as lack of time, money, and knowledge.
• Parents and staff sometimes shared cultural beliefs that were inconsistent with preventing obesity, such as the belief that heavier children are healthier.

Publications

"Barriers to Obesity Prevention in Head Start" (March 2010)
"Reaching Staff, Parents, and Community Partners to Prevent Childhood Obesity in Head Start, 2008" (May 2010)
"A National Survey of Obesity Prevention Practices in Head Start" (December 2009)