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Table 2 Prevalence of center-level policies and reported practices before and after implementation of the Active Play Standards in British Columbia, Canada (n = 592 centers in 2016–17 and n = 378 centers in 2018–19)

From: Does an active play standard change childcare physical activity and healthy eating policies? A natural policy experiment

 

2016–17

n = 592 centers

2018–19

N = 378 centers

Physical activity/sedentary policiesa

n

%

n

%

 Provision of activities that address fundamental movement skills

501

15.0

361

58.2

 Total amount of active play time

496

39.1

360

74.2

 Amount of staff-led active play

500

18.2

364

30.0

 Amount of un-facilitated play / free play

499

33.1

35

47.9

 Amount of daily outdoor active play

497

42.5

363

77.4

 Amount of screen time

499

25.7

359

70.8

 Breaking up prolonged sitting

499

17.2

363

26.2

 Staff role modeling of physical activity and screen time

499

7.9

358

36.3

 Training staff about physical activity and/or physical literacy

501

9.6

363

17.1

Healthy eating policiesa

 Healthy eating education for children

498

51.8

360

68.9

 Healthy eating training for staff

499

15.0

366

18.6

 Encouragement of new foods

498

20.3

358

28.5

 Family style meals (staff sit with children)

498

29.1

358

35.8

 Offering drinking water or milk only

497

50.1

360

57.2

 Types of milk served

501

13.6

365

15.3

 Amount of fruit juice served

499

11.8

359

18.4

 Staff role modeling of eating behaviours

500

19.6

357

29.7

 Encouraging inclusion of fruit/vegetable

496

46.4

361

56.5

 Limiting types of foods at parties/celebrations

498

25.5

353

36.5

 Types of foods and beverages brought from home

497

23.4

360

53.1

Physical activity/sedentary practicesb

 

Mean (SD)

 

Mean (SD)

 Take part daily in activities to develop fundamental movement skills

535

4.6 (0.8)

349

4.8 (0.6)

 Engage in ≥ 120 min of active play daily

534

4.5 (0.9)

349

4.7 (0.6)

 See staff being active

535

4.5 (0.9)

346

4.6 (0.7)

 Spend 30 min or less on screens daily

523

3.0 (1.9)

346

3.6 (1.8)

 Do not sit for prolonged periods

534

4.2 (1.3)

349

4.5 (1.1)

 Engage in ≥ 60 min of outdoor active play daily

474

4.6 (0.8)

347

4.9 (0.5)

 Learn why physical activity is good for them

533

4.1 (1.0)

347

4.4 (1.0)

  1. aIn 2018–19, both managers and staff were asked about the prevalence of policies related to physical activity and nutrition but in 2016–17, only managers were asked about the prevalence of policies. In centers where more than one manager or more than one staff answered the survey, their policy responses were aggregated by survey type (manager survey vs. staff survey) within a center for each time point (2016–17 or 2018–19). We prioritized manager(s)’s responses to determine the presence of written policies in a center. However, when manager responses were missing and policy responses were available from staff, we used staff responses
  2. bAll practice items were measured using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from “Rarely/Never” (= 1) to “Daily” (= 5). The higher the score, the more frequent the behaviour. We prioritized staff response(s) to determine the frequency of practices in a center. However, when staff responses were missing and practice responses were available from managers, we used manager responses