Journal of Child and Adolescent Behavior
Open Access

Research Article

The Maine Nutrition and Physical Activity Self Assessment for Childcare (NAP SACC) Experience

¹Department of Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences, Husson University, School of Pharmacy, USA

²Department of Community Health, University of Maine Farmington, USA

³Master of Public Policy and Management, University of Southern Maine, USA

⁴Center for Community and Public Health, University of New England, USA

*Corresponding Author:

Sarah Levin Martin
Department of Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences
Husson University, School of Pharmacy
1 College Circle, Bangor, ME 04401, USA
Tel: (207) 992-4945
Fax: (207) 992-1954
E-mail: martinsar@husson.edu

Received Date: November 04, 2013; Accepted Date: January 04, 2014; Published Date: January 11, 2014

Citation: Martin SL, Martin M, Cook R, Knaus R, O’Rourke K (2014) The Maine Nutrition and Physical Activity Self Assessment for Childcare (NAP SACC) Experience. J Child Adolesc Behav 2:122. doi:10.4172/2375-4494.1000122

Copyright: © 2014 Martin SL, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Background: More than half of all children in the U.S. aged 3 to 6 years are enrolled in childcare centers. In
Maine, there are over 2,000 licensed centers. Maine received funds from the federal department of health and
human services’ Communities Putting Prevention to Work to promote the adoption of Nutrition and Physical Activity
Self Assessment for Child Care (NAP SACC), an evidenced-based program for the childcare setting. Consultant
training was provided using the states’ health program delivery network - the Healthy Maine Partnership (HMPs).
Each HMP NAP SACC consultant was then required to recruit two or more childcare centers to implement NAP
SACC.
Methods: The purpose of this study was to summarize the process and outcome findings of the roll-out and
adoption of NAP SACC in Maine, and to put forth recommendations for improvement. Means of program evaluation
included telephone interviews with NAP SACC consultants (N=17), childcare directors (N=29); an on-site observation
of a subset of the centers (n=6), and one quantitative measure: the self-assessment (pre- and post), which is a NAP
SACC tool used at the childcare center level.
Results: These data sources provided much corroborative evidence suggesting that the NAP SACC program
has been successfully adopted in Maine. Nutrition policies and offerings have improved, especially with regard to
purchasing healthier options. Physical activity policies and offerings improved to a lessor degree, though grant
money provided to childcare centers via CPPW has helped many sites purchase playground equipment, and was
ranked as a key aspect of the program
Conclusions: The multi-faceted evaluation methods revealed numerous strengths and opportunities for
program improvement in the delivery of NAP SACC across this rural state; findings which can help to direct and
improve further adoption of NAP SACC.

Keywords