JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Early childhood is a critical period for supporting the development of healthy eating habits which may impact lifelong health. Childcare services are important settings for promoting early childhood nutrition, however food provision in childcare frequently does not align with dietary guidelines. Online menu planning tools are well suited to support healthy food provision in childcare, though little is known about their use. Research is needed to understand how online menu planning tools are used in the childcare setting and how they can more effectively support healthy menu planning and food provision for children in care.

Objective:

This study aimed to explore use of an online menu planning tool called FoodChecker, available to childcare services in Victoria, Australia. It aimed to gain insights and perspectives from childcare staff involved in menu planning about their use of the tool to plan healthy menus and guide healthy food provision for children.

Methods:

A qualitative descriptive study was conducted using a cross-sectional online survey, completed by staff involved in menu planning in childcare services. Thematic analysis was undertaken using NVivo software. Emergent themes were mapped against constructs of the Technology Acceptance Model regarding perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and external variables influencing perceptions and use.

Results:

Participants were 30 cooks and 34 directors from 53 childcare services. Participants perceived the online menu planning tool to be useful for supporting child nutrition and health, improving organizational processes and aiding the menu planner role. Perceptions about ease of use were mixed. External variables influencing perceptions and use included awareness of the tool, perceived need, time, resources, organizational support and the food budget. Participants made recommendations to improve the tool, particularly the need to integrate functionality to make it easier and faster to use, or to include more links to resources to support healthy menu planning.

Conclusions:

The online menu planning tool was perceived to be useful for cooks and directors in childcare services. Areas for improvement were identified, for example, the need for integrated digital features to make the tool easier and faster to use. As the first qualitative study exploring childcare staff experiences with a digital menu planning tool, these findings inform future research and development of such tools to aid scalable and sustainable support for healthier food provision in the childcare sector.