The co-design of support strategies for sustainable, healthy, and affordable food provision in Early Childhood Education settings.

Objective: To co-design support strategies to enable sustainable, healthy, affordable food provision, including waste mitigation practices, in Australian Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings.

Design: Based upon the co-design IDEAS framework (Ideate, DEsign, Assess & Share), this co-design process involved iterative interviews and focus groups with ECEC centre staff, and workshops with Nutrition Australia. Interview and workshop themes were coded to the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) to develop initial prototypes for support strategies that were further developed and refined in focus groups.

Correction: Elford et al. Identification and Evaluation of Tools Utilised for Measuring Food Provision in Childcare Centres and Primary Schools: A Systematic Review. 2022, , 4096.

In the original publication [...

Nutrition environments in early childhood education: do they align with best practice?

Objective: To assess the comprehensiveness (scope of nutrition guidance) and strength (clarity of written language) of centre-based nutrition policies (CBNP) within early childhood education (ECE) centres. To also consider the applicability of an existing CBNP assessment tool and policy alignment with best practice food provision and feeding practices.

Design: Cross-sectional online study to assess written ECE CNBP using the Wellness Child Care Assessment Tool.

Environmental sustainability and food provision in the early childhood and education setting.

Objective: To describe environmentally sustainable (ES) and healthy food provision practices in childcare services in Victoria, Australia.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Childcare services providing food onsite.

Barriers and enablers to menu planning guideline implementation in Australian childcare centres and the role of government support services.

Objective: To explore government support service access, perceived barriers/enablers to menu planning and menu compliance in long day care (LDC) centres in Victoria, Australia, where the Victorian Government-funded Healthy Eating Advisory Service (HEAS) is available to provide free LDC menu planning support.

Design: This is a cross-sectional study design. Data were collected from online surveys with the option of uploading 2 weeks of menus and recipes.

Identification and Evaluation of Tools Utilised for Measuring Food Provision in Childcare Centres and Primary Schools: A Systematic Review.

Background: Children aged 2-11 years spend significant hours per week in early childhood education and care (ECEC) and primary schools. Whilst considered important environments to influence children's food intake, there is heterogeneity in the tools utilised to assess food provision in these settings. This systematic review aimed to identify and evaluate tools used to measure food provision in ECEC and primary schools.