CHOICE: Creating Healthy Opportunities In Child Care Environments

CHOICE helps early childcare centers evaluate and implement best practices for childcare nutrition and physical activity. CHOICE provides a manual for self-assessment and policy development. This manual is publicly available and can be used by rural and urban childcare centers throughout the United States. Settings: Pre-K & Childcare  Population/Age Group: Preschool  Race: All Ethnicity: All

The CHOICE intervention consists of a manual that helps childcare centers or childcare homes implement comprehensive nutrition and physical activity policies. The four-section manual consists of a 35-question Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) and a Best Practices Manual that address the following topics: Nutrition Child feeding practices Food served Physical activity Staff and parenting training

The manual is the main component of this intervention. It consists of best practices, resources for policy development and implementation, tracking tools, and a self-assessment questionnaire. The link to the English manual is:  https://www.cocokids.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/CHOICE-Creating-Healthy-Opportunities-in-Child-Care-Environments-Manual.pdf Please note: due to funding, this program manual has been unable to undergo a proper update.

Based on the SNAP-Ed Evaluation Framework, the following outcome indicators can be used to evaluate intervention progress and success.   Readiness and Capacity - Short Term (ST) Changes - Medium Term (MT) Effectiveness and Maintenance - Long Term (LT) Population Results (R) Individual         Environmental Settings ST5 , ST6 , ST7 MT5 , MT6 LT5 , LT6 , LT7 , LT8, LT9 , LT10 , LT11 Sectors of Influence

Evaluation materials are included in the manual. The link to manual https://www.cocokids.org/child-health-nutrition/c-h-o-i-c-e-toolkit-self-assessment-questionnnaire

Website: The CHOICE website ( https://www.cocokids.org/child-health-nutrition/c-h-o-i-c-e-toolkit-self-assessment-questionnnaire/ ) includes a manual with self-assessment questionnaire, best practices for child care nutrition and physical activity environments. Contact Person(s): Kitty Lenhart Grant Projects Coordinator 925-956-4737 kitty.lenhart@cocokids.org     *Updated as of September 26, 2023