NAP SACC UK feasibility study [page]
Before we started this current study, we carried out a smaller one to see if it was feasible and acceptable to use the American programme called NAP SACC (Nutrition And Physical Activity Self Assessment for Child Care). The programme was changed by adding oral health and making the food and activity recommendations the same as UK standards. A website was also developed for parents to make changes at home. Six nurseries were randomly chosen to deliver NAP SACC UK and six continued as usual to provide measurements as a ‘control group’. Health Visitors helped nursery managers to look at what they did at nursery and to set goals to improve physical activity, nutrition and oral health. Nursery staff attended workshops on these topics, led by local experts. We took measurements from 168 children aged 2–4 years. We evaluated the programme over 5 months to check if it was delivered as we hoped it would be and if the staff and parents were happy with it.
We found that the programme and methods we used were acceptable to most nursery staff, health visitors and parents. Five out of the six nurseries using NAP SACC UK followed the programme as we hoped they would (one did not because of staff capacity for out-of-hours training). Health Visitors liked the programme but were concerned that they would not have the time to work with nurseries. The study was small, so we couldn’t be sure whether or not it improved children’s health, but it may help to increase physical activity and reduce snacks, overweight and watching television at home. We are now testing this fully in the current, larger trial.
Feasibility trial publications
Kipping R, Langford R, Brockman R, Wells S, Metcalfe C, Papadaki A, White J, Hollingworth W, Moore L, Ward D, Campbell R, Kadir B, Tinner L, Er V, Dias K, Busse H, Collingwood J, Nicholson A, Johnson L, Jago R.
Southampton (UK): NIHR Journals Library; 2019 Jul.
BMC Public Health. 2019 Jul 3;19(1):865. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-7102-9.
Tinner L, Kipping R, White J, Jago R, Metcalfe C, Hollingworth W.
BMC Public Health. 2019 Jun 28;19(1):846. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-7129-y.
Dias K, White J, Metcalfe C, Kipping R, Papadaki A, Jago R.
Public Health Nutr. 2019 Apr;22(6):967-975. doi: 10.1017/S1368980018004111. Epub 2019 Feb 14.
Er V, Dias KI, Papadaki A, White J, Wells S, Ward DS, Metcalfe C, Jago R, Kipping R.
BMC Public Health. 2018 Nov 14;18(1):1262. doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-6138-6.
Kipping R, Jago R, Metcalfe C, White J, Papadaki A, Campbell R, Hollingworth W, Ward D, Wells S, Brockman R, Nicholson A, Moore L.
BMJ Open. 2016 Apr 6;6(4):e010622. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010622.