Perceptions of childcare staff for preventing overweight in Mexican preschool children: A SWOT analysis

Abstract

Objective. To identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) perceived by childcare staff for prevent­ing childhood overweight. Materials and methods. Qualitative study using an interpretative phenomenological approach; 18 in-depth, semi-structured interviews and 12 focus groups with 89 key informants working in six Mexican public childcare centers (CCC) were conducted. Through content and SWOT analyses, experts further ranked fifty-nine recurrent perceptions regarding healthy feeding and physical activity (PA), using the Delphi method. Results. Strengths: Acknowledgement of the CCC’s responsibility in fostering healthy feeding, availability of organizational regulations, and access to PA infrastructure/indoor activities. Weaknesses: Disregard of preschool overweight as a health problem, nu­tritional misperceptions, and perceived risk of child injuries while conducting PA. Opportunities: Willingness to reduce children’s access to junk foods, and parental active play with children during weekends. Threats: Limited family nutritional education, and restricted parental time/economic constraints/ access to safe public spaces for PA. Conclusion. The identi­fied SWOT must be considered when developing obesity-prevention interventions targeted at CCC.

Keywords

• preschool
• overweight
• child care
• day care
• healthy diet
• exercise