How involved are parents in their child's early years setting's food decisions and practices?
As childhood obesity and poor nutrition rates in England continue to rise, parents and childcare practitioners have key partnership roles in ensuring young children have healthy balanced diets. Yet little is known about parents' understanding and involvement in their childcare settings' fo...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-12-01
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| Series: | SSM: Qualitative Research in Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667321522001044 |
| _version_ | 1811296710962446336 |
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| author | Lorraine Williams Emily Warren Cecile Knai |
| author_facet | Lorraine Williams Emily Warren Cecile Knai |
| author_sort | Lorraine Williams |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | As childhood obesity and poor nutrition rates in England continue to rise, parents and childcare practitioners have key partnership roles in ensuring young children have healthy balanced diets. Yet little is known about parents' understanding and involvement in their childcare settings' food decisions and practices, and how this might be strengthened. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with a purposive sample of 59 parents with one or more children attending early years settings in England. Framework analysis was used to explore the interviews. Epstein's model of parental partnerships was adapted as a reflective lens for the findings, and their implication for early years' policy and practice. Parents reported a lack of two-way communication on food, and of opportunities for active, meaningful engagement around food and healthy eating outside of one-to-one discussions of their child's specific needs and requirements. Some parents reported a lack of trust in the food related information provided by their childcare setting. As young children spend more time in formal childcare, it is increasingly important that trusting collaborative relationships are built between parents and childcare practitioners to ensure that children have the best start in life. This study adds to the limited literature on parental involvement in early years settings. Findings suggest that more policy work and development is needed in the early years sector, particularly in ensuring clear and accessible guidelines on food in early years settings are readily available, and that practitioners and parents have more clarity about their mutual roles and responsibilities in this. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T05:53:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b8e9fce5512b4fd6be92831378a41acc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2667-3215 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T05:53:20Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SSM: Qualitative Research in Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-b8e9fce5512b4fd6be92831378a41acc2022-12-22T02:59:42ZengElsevierSSM: Qualitative Research in Health2667-32152022-12-012100142How involved are parents in their child's early years setting's food decisions and practices?Lorraine Williams0Emily Warren1Cecile Knai2Department of Health Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, WC1H 9SH, UK; Corresponding author.Department of Health Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, WC1H 9SH, UKDepartment of Health Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, WC1H 9SH, UKAs childhood obesity and poor nutrition rates in England continue to rise, parents and childcare practitioners have key partnership roles in ensuring young children have healthy balanced diets. Yet little is known about parents' understanding and involvement in their childcare settings' food decisions and practices, and how this might be strengthened. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with a purposive sample of 59 parents with one or more children attending early years settings in England. Framework analysis was used to explore the interviews. Epstein's model of parental partnerships was adapted as a reflective lens for the findings, and their implication for early years' policy and practice. Parents reported a lack of two-way communication on food, and of opportunities for active, meaningful engagement around food and healthy eating outside of one-to-one discussions of their child's specific needs and requirements. Some parents reported a lack of trust in the food related information provided by their childcare setting. As young children spend more time in formal childcare, it is increasingly important that trusting collaborative relationships are built between parents and childcare practitioners to ensure that children have the best start in life. This study adds to the limited literature on parental involvement in early years settings. Findings suggest that more policy work and development is needed in the early years sector, particularly in ensuring clear and accessible guidelines on food in early years settings are readily available, and that practitioners and parents have more clarity about their mutual roles and responsibilities in this.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667321522001044ChildcareEarly yearsEnglandNutritionParents |
| spellingShingle | Lorraine Williams Emily Warren Cecile Knai How involved are parents in their child's early years setting's food decisions and practices? SSM: Qualitative Research in Health Childcare Early years England Nutrition Parents |
| title | How involved are parents in their child's early years setting's food decisions and practices? |
| title_full | How involved are parents in their child's early years setting's food decisions and practices? |
| title_fullStr | How involved are parents in their child's early years setting's food decisions and practices? |
| title_full_unstemmed | How involved are parents in their child's early years setting's food decisions and practices? |
| title_short | How involved are parents in their child's early years setting's food decisions and practices? |
| title_sort | how involved are parents in their child s early years setting s food decisions and practices |
| topic | Childcare Early years England Nutrition Parents |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667321522001044 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lorrainewilliams howinvolvedareparentsintheirchildsearlyyearssettingsfooddecisionsandpractices AT emilywarren howinvolvedareparentsintheirchildsearlyyearssettingsfooddecisionsandpractices AT cecileknai howinvolvedareparentsintheirchildsearlyyearssettingsfooddecisionsandpractices |