Background: Effective childhood obesity prevention programs for preschool children are limited in number and focus on changes in the child care environment rather than the home environment. Purpose: The purpose of this project was to develop and test the feasibility of a home environment obesity prevention program that incorporates mindful eating…

Feeding problems are common among autistic children and are linked to negative health consequences. Therefore, understanding feeding problems and factors that influence these behaviors is important for developing supports for children and families. While certain sensory processing patterns are commonly associated with feeding problems, less is…

Objectives: This study explored US rural parents' perceived facilitators, challenges and motivators to healthy eating. Methods: Qualitative and purposive sampling was used to recruit one hundred (N = 100) parents of children enrolled in the fourth grade to participate in a series of focus group sessions. Eligibility criteria included being the…

We examined the relationship between weight status, appetite regulating hormones, and mealtime behaviors among children, (5-12 years old), diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in a cross-sectional study. All (N = 21) completed anthropometry measurements and (n = 18) provided blood samples for hormone analysis. Mealtime behavior, dietary,…

The purpose of this study was to explore parents' common experiences with healthy eating and physical activity-focused (HE-PA) programming in one Head Start (HS) program (two centers) in eastern North Carolina (NC). Researchers conducted 13 in-depth semi-structured telephone interviews November 2017-May 2018. Participants were parents of preschool…

Obesity and overweight in early childhood have detrimental impacts on children's health and development. Changing policy, system and environmental features focused on physical activity and healthy eating behaviors as part of health promotion interventions can play a key role in prevention strategies in early childhood education settings. These…

Digital marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children and adolescents is pervasive, highly effective, undermines healthy eating, and contributes to health inequities. Expanded use of electronic devices and remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the urgency for policy interventions to limit digital food marketing in…

Early childhood is an optimal time for establishing healthy eating habits which may prevent disease later in life. In Georgia, the child obesity rate?hovers at 13% with the majority being children from low-income Black or Hispanic families. Currently, the "Dietary Guidelines for Americans" recommend children aged 2-5 consume 1-1.5 cups…

Introduction: Current family education has had to adapt to the different changes generated by the society of the 21st century. The main objective of this investigation is to determine the relationship between the family social environment and the involvement in joint family activities, with the social competence of children in the Early Childhood…

Background: Physical activity (PA) has long been acknowledged to contribute health benefits among children. However, research has consistently shown that PA declines as children grow older. Thus, this study examined the factors which are associated to children's PA in order to identify potential barriers to PA. Methods: Using data from the…

Introduction: Individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) are at heightened risk of behavioral problems. Methods: This study investigated differences in the severity of challenging behaviors (CBs) among individuals with IDs at varying life stages. Data were collected from parents' retrospective interviews. Surveys were completed by 47 parents…

Background: Food insecurity (FI) is a significant predictor of feelings of isolation in children, as well as suicide ideation and depression. Using a census of public middle school-aged children, we seek to determine whether FI is associated with suicide ideation and feelings of hopelessness and how individual and school community factors can…

This report uses data from a survey that is a follow-up to the survey of childcare and early years providers for 2019. It provides data on: (1) the special educational needs inclusion fund (SENIF); and (2) early years' providers experiences of different funding mechanisms, particularly the early years pupil premium (EYPP), disability access fund…

Mobile devices are increasingly being used, in various ways, to collect data and are also increasingly related to individuals' health behaviors. Because of the paucity of available data about the process of mobile data collection in tracking daily health behaviors among children, we designed this pilot study to determine the possibilities and the…

Objective: We used latent profile analysis (LPA) to classify children and adolescents into subtypes based on the overlap of disinhibited eating behaviors--eating in the absence of hunger, emotional eating, and subjective and objective binge eating. Method: Participants were 411 youths (8-18 years) from the community who reported on their…