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Promoting healthy eating and physical activity in early childhood education and care is recommended within guidelines and supported by health promotion programs; however, implementation is suboptimal. Evidence suggests implementation within the sector varies over time; however, this has not been empirically examined in relation to implementation barriers.
There is an urgent need for scalable interventions to promote physical activity in early childhood. An early childhood education and care physical activity policy intervention with implementation support strategies (Play Active) has been proposed for scale-up in Australia.
Food retail and food service outlets can be part of a chain, or independently operated. Chain food outlets are likely to have the most influence over community food environments but have not been routinely identified in studies which map and monitor access to food, highlighting an important knowledge gap. This study aimed to identify the food retail and food service outlets present within metropolitan Perth, including presence of chain and independent food outlets; and examine differences across local governments.
The school environment profoundly influences children's development, behaviours, and attitudes. This chapter delves into the relationship between school design and architecture, and their impact on bullying, victimisation, inclusivity, and student well-being. Research underscores the significant impact of school design on student social dynamics, advocating for collaborative efforts among stakeholders to craft effective anti-bullying policies.
Children are often exposed to unhealthy outdoor food advertisements during the school commute. This exposure can have negative public health consequences given childhood weight gain has been linked to the marketing of energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods. This study aimed to explore schoolchildren's lived experiences and attitudes towards outdoor advertising surrounding their schools.
Current methods for assessing the healthfulness of 24-hour movement behaviours (sleep, sedentary time, light physical activity, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity) use binary classifications that fail to capture their continuous and compositional nature. This study introduces a percentile-based scoring and visualization approach to evaluate the healthfulness of movement behaviour time-use compositions, using social-emotional development in early childhood as an example.
Physical activity is crucial for young children's health and development. Many young children do not meet the recommended 3 hours of daily physical activity, including 60 min of energetic play. Early childhood education and care (ECEC/childcare) is a key setting to intervene to improve children's physical activity. The Play Active programme is a scalable evidence-informed ECEC-specific physical activity policy intervention with implementation support strategies to improve educators' physical activity-related practices.
This study investigated adherence to Indonesia's Dietary Guidelines (IDG) among lactating women, examining related factors and association with nutrient intake adequacy, maternal and infant biomarkers, body mass index, and growth. Participants were lactating women (n = 220) from urban and rural West Java, Indonesia. Dietary intake (via 3-day weighed food records), anthropometry and blood samples were assessed. Adherence was evaluated using a scoring system tailored for IDG and adapted from the Healthy Eating Index to assess intake of food groups, sugar, salt, fat, water, coffee, and breakfast habits.
Overweight and obesity in children continues to increase. Yet, the role of active transport, namely walking, in mitigating these trends remains unclear. This study examined the cross-sectional association between walkability and children's Body Mass Index (BMI) and how this varies by socio-economic and lifestyle characteristics.
Child poverty remains a major global concern and a child's experience of deprivation is heavily shaped by where they live and the stability of their local neighbourhood. This study examines frequencies and patterns of residential mobility in children and young people at a population level using novel geospatial techniques to assess how often their physical environment changes and to identify geographical variations in social mobility.