P143 Examining Nutrition Practices Across Early Childhood Education Programs in Two Rural Counties of California

Background Early childhood education (ECE) programs are important partners for childhood obesity prevention efforts. Despite signs of progress, racial and ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic disparities in obesity rates still persist in California. Current understanding of obesity prevention strategies (e.g. nutrition practices) is limited across ECE programs in Tulare/ Kings counties of California. Objective To characterize nutrition practices of Child Care Centers (CCCs) and Family Child Care Homes (FCCHs). Study Design, Settings, Participants Study design was cross-sectional. Settings included licensed CCCs and FCCHs in Tulare/Kings counties. Participants included CCC Directors (N = 59) and FCCH Providers (N = 58). Measurable Outcome/Analysis Of the 701 nutrition practices surveys administered, 117 were completed and returned. Descriptive and chi-square analysis was conducted using SPSS. Results Results indicated statistically significant differences (P Conclusion Targeting nutrition interventions based on the childcare context (FCCH vs. CCC) is critical to the implementation of nutrition best practices. Overall, FCCH reported higher adherence to best practices as compared to CCC. This could be attributed to a higher participation of FCCHs in CACFP. A focus on nutrition education as well as participation in CACFP in ECE programs may help in obesity prevention efforts. Funding UC ANR.