[Hygienic principles of the design of the space and architectural environment of kindergartens]

In the article there are considered current requirements for the design of the architectural environment of preschool institutions. These requirements provide conditions ofpreservation and promotion of health ofpreschool children. Among them are: the association of rooms according to a functional purpose; division of children collectives according to the age; rational placement of main rooms for the prevention ofpenetration of noise and pollution; ensuring convenientfunctional connections between different premises and group rooms and the parcel ofpreschool institutions; optimal solution of the light mode; rational air and thermal mode. There are made proposals for the expansion of the list of hygienic principles of the design of buildings of kindergartens: provision of conditions for realization of physical activity of children, the safe use of electronic educational equipment, and the creation of the barrier-free environment. There was established the insufficiency of areas of group rooms for the realization of voluntary motor activity of children in modern kindergartens and the need of the revision of the standard of the area of the group room per one child.

Systematic dissemination of a preschool physical activity intervention to the control preschools

For public health interventions to have a meaningful impact on public health, they must be disseminated to the wider population. Systematic planning and evaluation of dissemination efforts can aid translation from experimental trials to larger dissemination programs. The Study of Health and Activity in Preschool Environments (SHAPES) was a group-randomized intervention trial conducted in 16 preschools that successfully increased the physical activity of preschool age children. Following the completion of the research study protocol, the intervention was abbreviated, modified and implemented in four preschools that participated as control preschools in the original research study. The purposes of the current study were to describe the process of refining the intervention for dissemination to the control preschools, and to assess the acceptability of the resulting abbreviated intervention delivery. Five overarching behavioral objectives, informed by process evaluation, data from the original trial and collaboration with intervention teachers, were used to guide the implementation. Teachers in the dissemination classrooms reported high levels of acceptability, potential for sustainability of the program, and positive results in knowledge, skills, and child outcomes. Researchers can include a systematic approach to dissemination of effective intervention elements to the control participants in experimental studies to inform future dissemination efforts and begin to bridge the dissemination gap.

Benefits of a School-Based Health Center in a Preschool

Although school-based health centers (SBHCs) deliver health care to vulnerable children, their effectiveness has not been well documented. This study compared the benefits of an SBHC with a School Health Survey and selected HEDIS measures in preschool children with and without access to an SBHC. Preschoolers with access to an SBHC (N = 130) and preschoolers without access (N = 131) were compared on (a) HEDIS measures including well-child care, immunizations, dental care, and smoke exposure; (b) measures of access and use of physical and mental health services; (c) satisfaction with health care; (d) barriers and facilitators to care; and (e) health insurance. Significant differences were found in parents' perceptions of children's physical and emotional health, self-esteem, incidence of behavioral problems, difficulty in obtaining care, number of hospitalizations, and satisfaction with care received. Findings suggest that holistic services provided by an SBHC positively impact the health of vulnerable preschool children.

Assessing diets for energy and nutrients content in nursery school children from Lodz, Poland

BACKGROUND

Balanced meals eaten by toddlers at nursery school play an important nutritional role in satisfying a child's daily demand for energy and nutrients as well in preventing any dietary deficiencies or excesses from occurring.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the energy and nutritional value of children's diets at nursery schools in Lodz, Poland. MATERIALS AND METHODS; Analyses were performed at 30 nursery schools throughout the Lodz city municipality on the basis of 10 day menus and food inventory reports. Results were calculated using the 'Dieta 5.0' computer programme according to the databas at the Warsaw Institute for Food and Nutrition. These were related to nutritional standards for children aged 1-3 years.

RESULTS

On verage, dietary calorific values exceeded those of current nutritional recommendations, where protein was found to be 3 times higher than current standards although falling within the range of reference values. Dietary fat intake was f ound to be rather low, with a high content of saturated fat coupled with low intakes of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Dietary carbohydrates agreed with recommended limits however these were exceeded by the mean sucrose intake. Significant deficiencies were most noted in vitamin D and iodine intake and additionally vitamin E and iron intakes were also low. However, intakes of sodium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, vitamin A, B2, B6 and B12 were above the recommended values.

CONCLUSIONS

The diets surveyed in nursery schools need to be better balanced to comply with current standards and dietary guidelines.

Making child care centers SAFER: a non-regulatory approach to improving child care center siting

Licensed child care centers are generally considered to be safe because they are required to meet state licensing regulations. As part of their licensing requirements, many states inspect child care centers and include an assessment of the health and safety of the facility to look for hazardous conditions or practices that may harm children. However, most states do not require an environmental assessment of the child care center building or land to prevent a center from being placed on, next to, or inside contaminated buildings. Having worked on several sites where child care centers were affected by environmental contaminants, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) endeavor to raise awareness of this issue. One of ATSDR's partner states, Connecticut, took a proactive, non-regulatory approach to the issue with the development its Child Day Care Screening Assessment for Environmental Risk Program.

Compliance with national guidelines for physical activity in U.S. preschoolers: measurement and interpretation

OBJECTIVE

The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) guidelines for preschoolers recommend 120 minutes of physical activity daily. Two issues, however, create a situation whereby substantial variation in estimated prevalence rates of (in)active preschoolers are reported. First, NASPE guidelines have been interpreted in multiple ways. Second, objective monitoring via accelerometry is the most widely accepted measure of preschoolers' physical activity, yet multiple cut points provide vastly different estimates of physical activity. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of preschoolers meeting NASPE guidelines and illustrate the differences among rates, given guideline interpretations, and cut points.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Three- to 5-year-old children (n = 397) wore ActiGraph accelerometers for an average of 5.9 days. NASPE guidelines were expressed in 3 ways: 120 minutes daily of light-to-vigorous physical activity; 120 minutes daily of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity; and 60 minutes daily of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Estimates of 120 minutes daily of light-to-vigorous physical activity, 120 minutes daily of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and 60 minutes daily of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity were calculated on the basis of 4 common accelerometer cut points for preschoolers: Pate, Reilly and Puyau, Sirard, and Freedson.

RESULTS

Prevalence rates varied considerably, with estimates ranging from 13.5% to 99.5%, 0.0% to 95.7%, and 0.5% to 99.5% for 120 minutes daily of light-to-vigorous physical activity, 120 minutes daily of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and 60 minutes daily of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The variation in NASPE guidelines, coupled with different accelerometer cut points, results in disparate estimates of (in)active preschoolers. This limits the ability to estimate population prevalence levels of physical activity that can be used to guide public health policy. Development of new guidelines should focus on an explicit delineation of physical activity and attempt to standardize the measurement of preschoolers' physical activity.

Effect of improvement of pre-school education through Anganwadi center on intelligence and development quotient of children

OBJECTIVE

To find usefulness of a package of interventions to improve preschool education through Anganwadi centers on psychosocial development of children.

METHODS

A case-control study was undertaken to evaluate an intervention. Eight Anganwadi centers were selected using simple random sampling out of sixteen Anganwadi centers in Talegaon PHC area where intervention was done. Ten children in age group of 4-6 years were selected randomly from each of the eight Anganwadi center in intervention arm. For each child from intervention arm, one agematched child was selected from the matched Anganwadi center. For each subject, Intelligence Quotient and Development Quotient were assessed.

RESULTS

Mean Development Quotient (DQ) and Intelligence Quotient (IQ) values were higher among children in intervention Anganwadi centers (16.2 points for DQ and 10.2 points for IQ). This difference was found statistically significant (p = <0.01). Mean DQ among boys was found 10.1 points higher than that among the girls in control arm, this was statistically significant. According to multivariate linear regression model, the determinants of DQ were: intervention; age of the child; education of mother; sex of child; and PEM grade and the determinants for IQ were: intervention; age of the child; and income.

CONCLUSION

This study shows that intervention to improve the Early Childhood Education and Development component through Anganwadi centers results in improvement in Developmental and Intelligence Quotient of children.

[Evaluation of energy and nutritive value of meals for nursery school children]

The energy value and content of nutritive components in nursery school meals have been evaluated by analytical method and calculated by Nutritionist IV computer program with Polish data base. A significant correlation between analysed and calculated values has been observed. An average nursery school meal covered recommended intake of iron, calcium, zinc, vit. B1 and % of energy from proteins, fats and carbohydrates. An average nursery school meal covered above recommended intake of total energy and % of energy from saturated fatty acids, proteins, fats, cholesterol, carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, copper and vitamins A, E, C, B2 i B6. Only the average content of vit. PP and % of energy from mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids in analysed nursery school meals has been below the recommended intake. The results indicate that there is a tendency to supply energy and some of nutritive components in nursery school meals above the recommended intake.

Screening at school entry: vision, hearing and growth

Tam Fry of the Child Growth Foundation criticises the new recommendations for screening at school entry in the 2003 edition of Health for all Children. He argues that proposals to reduce preschool surveillance make the school entry screening even more important for detecting deviations from the normal, especially in vision, hearing and growth. This surveillance needs to be rigorously performed, yet a shortage of school nurses and optometrists makes this less likely to happen. The author argues that even though there may be insufficient evidence for retaining current preschool screening programmes, there is also insufficient evidence to show that severely curtailing them will not cause harm.

[Evaluation of the indoor and outdoor air quality in a nursery school in Mexico City]

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the differences between indoor and outdoor ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels at a school located in southwest Mexico City.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Indoor and outdoor O3 and NO2 levels were measured daily between January and April 1990 by manual monitoring.

RESULTS

Indoor and outdoor concentrations of nitrogen dioxide did not surpass the Mexican standard (0.21 ppm). The correlation coefficient between maximum NO2 concentrations measured by the city's local monitoring station and those measured outside the classroom was 0.82 (p < 0.001). Regarding ozone, its maximum outdoor concentration was 0.29 ppm and indoor concentrations were on average below 0.06 ppm (maximum = 0.17 ppm). The indoor/outdoor correlation coefficient was 0.72, and for every 1.7 ppm outside, there was 1.0 ppm inside (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Since the highest outdoors O3 concentrations were observed between 11:00 and 14:00 hrs, it is recommendable to have recess before this time.

Development of a WHO Child Care Facility Schedule (CCFS): a pilot collaborative study

This paper describes the research conducted by a WHO collaborative study group for the development of a questionnaire method for the assessment of quality in child-care settings. The results of an inter-rater reliability study undertaken in Greece and Nigeria suggest that the Child Care Facility Schedule (CCFS), composed of 80 items, offers a satisfactory system of rating, especially after modifications were made to refine certain items, alter the scoring system so as to grasp nuances, and clarify the instructions in the users' manual, including revisions in the interviewing technique. A validity study to confirm the usefulness of this method is being carried out in Athens.

[Hygienic evaluation of the capacity of preschool institutions in relation to planning and equipment of group facilities]

The area of the group premises in child preschool centers (50 m2) with the existing number of children in a group (25) does not provide hygienic conditions for the organization of regime requirements. Physiological studies of the functional status of children, ergonomic calculations and pedagogical observations made it possible to recommend that the number of preschool groups should be decreased down to 20 children.

Child care services in Malaysia: an overview

In 1982, under the patronage of the Ministry of Social Welfare and with financial aid from UNICEF, three consultants from the University of Malaya conducted a National Child Care Survey to: provide an overview of child care services in Malaysia; to design a monitoring system to help child minders and relevant personnel to assess the standards of child care at the centres; and to develop a series of policy recommendations for implementing “better child care” in the country. This paper presents the first part of the National Child Care Survey, that is, an overview of child care services available in Malaysia.

The survey was conducted in five states in Peninsular Malaysia — Penang, Perak, Selangor, Kelantan and Melaka — and in two cities — Kuching and Kota Kinabalu — in East Malaysia. The national survey studied the type of care found at 537 centres where 824 minders looked after 7, 884 children. Four major aspects of child care were identified and subsequently examined: the physical conditions and environmental hygiene of the premises; profile of children under care; daily practices; and the personnel in the three basic types of centres, i.e., Institution-based, plantation-or estate-based and home-based.