Nutrition Promotion: Improving Eating Behavior in Kindergartens

Nutrition Promotion
1

Introduction:
Brief outline:
Childhood is associated with rapid growth and development of children and this phase of life
is also important for choosing eating habits in the children. Choice of eating behaviours in the
kindergartens is important aspect because transmission of same eating behaviour occurs to
the adulthood. It is important to make correct food choices in the early childhood for proper
physical and mental growth. Parent’s eating behaviour have significant impact on the eating
behaviour of their children. Choice of eating pattern is an important issue in the children
because weight pattern in the childhood produce significant impact on the health issues in the
adulthood. There should be proper eating pattern for children because improper eating pattern
would lead to disturbed mealtimes and refusal of nutritious food by the children. Children
develop learning ability to make choices of their foods through taste, feel, smell and seeing.
Observation of eating behaviour of others also plays important role in making choices of
eating behaviour in children. It is evident that there is significant increase in the obesity of
kindergartens in Australia 1,2. This increase in the obesity mainly occurs due to alteration in
the eating behaviour of the kindergartens. Increase in the adiposity in the children can be
effectively controlled through the physical exercise and controlled food intake with the
reference to the energy requirements. Development of eating behaviour with high amount
vegetables proved useful in the prevention of different disease conditions like obesity, type 2
diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. Vegetables proved ore useful in preventing these
diseases because these are with low sugar content as compared to the fruits 3.
Children belonging to the low socio-economic status (SES) are specifically prone to develop
obesity. Hence, health promotion programme will be implemented at local council in the
outer suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. This region is low SES. Target population for this
health promotion programme for promoting healthy eating behaviour will be mothers of
preschool children.
Link between eating behaviour and health of children :
There are different types of eating behaviours like overeating, poor eating, feeding behaviour
problems and unusual choices. Different types of eating behaviour produce different health
effects and quality of life. Overeating produce health effects like obesity, diabetes mellitus,
hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea and orthopaedic problems. Overeating also produce
quality of health-related issues like poor self-esteem, social isolation, distressed body image
2

and eating disorder. Poor eating behaviour lead to Failure to thrive (FTT) which results in the
impaired weight gain, height and head circumference. Feeding behaviour problem lead to
behavioural disorder like food phobias and post-traumatic feeding disorder4. Unusual choices
of food develop due to intake of non-food substances which lead to insufficient stimulation,
psychological disorders and mental retardation in children. However, more focus needs to be
given to the overeating because it led to development of obesity which is most significant
health issue in children. In Australia, approximately 25 % of the children develop obesity 1,2.
Evidence-based Session Plan:
Key influencers:
Parent’s eating behaviour have significant impact on the eating behaviour of their children. It
is evident that parents play an important role in improving fruit and vegetable consumption
by the children 5. Children of working parents are usually associated with the consumption of
energy rich foods and development of obesity. Financial aspects also plays important role in
eating behaviour of children. Families of the SES populations are usually with low socio-
economic status. Moreover, areas of SES population are usually associated with more number
of fast food shops. Food environment in the family and society also influence eating habits of
the children. Cultural aspects of the family and exposure to food advertising also influences
eating habits of the children 6,7.
In this programme, mothers of the children will be addressed. Mother’s will be addressed to
improve eating environment for their children to improve eating behaviour of their children.
Theory:
Session plan for addressing mothers of the children will be based on the Theory of Planned
Behaviour (TPB). TPB proved useful in linking individual’s beliefs and behaviour.
According to this theory; attitude of an individual toward behaviour, subjective norms ad
perceived behavioural control are helpful in shaping the behavioural intentions and
behaviours of the individuals 8. This programme will be based on the mother’s attitudes for
changing healthy behaviour of children through providing information about the importance
of healthy eating and good health. Families will address their subjective norms through
displaying it on noticeboard about the improved healthy habits of kindergarten. Instructions
for the procedural changes for eating behaviour change and addressing barriers like cost and
time will be helpful in understanding mother’s perceived ability 9,10.
3