TY - JOUR
T1 - Licensed Family Child Care Providers’ Participation in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)
T2 - Greater Benefits and Fewer Burdens in Highly Urban Areas?
AU - Speirs, Katherine E.
AU - Gordon, Rachel A.
AU - Powers, Elizabeth T.
AU - Koester, Brenda D.
AU - Fiese, Barbara H.
N1 - Funding Information: This project was supported, in part, with funding from the Christopher Family Foundation Food and Family Program at the Family Resiliency Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Early Investments Initiative at the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois. The authors would also like to acknowledge Stephanie Sloane for her work conducting qualitative interviews and analyzing qualitative interview data; Anneliese Feld for her help analyzing qualitative interview data; Stephanie Groeninger, Minyona Mason, Emily Samuel, Catherine Topolinski, and Elizabeth Villegas for their assistance collecting and managing the survey data; Stephanie Christin, Noel Konken, and Veronica Burns for their help collecting and managing the interview data; and the Survey Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois for assistance in creating survey weights. Publisher Copyright: © 2019, © 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2020/2/17
Y1 - 2020/2/17
N2 - Research Findings: Family child care providers widely participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), yet their participation experiences have not been studied. To fill this gap, we used a mixed methods approach that combined survey data collected from a random sample of 224 CACFP-participating licensed family child care providers and in-depth qualitative interviews (n = 40 survey respondents). Working within a cost-benefit framework, we sampled from Chicago and small cities and towns in central Illinois in order to compare providers’ perceptions of the benefits and burdens of CACFP participation by reimbursement level and urban/rural location. Reimbursement rate was related to providers’ perceptions of the adequacy of the reimbursement and how difficult it was to purchase food that met program requirements. Location was related to providers’ perceptions of how difficult it was to prepare meals that met program requirements. Practice or Policy: Our findings suggest modifications to reduce inequities in who has access to the higher reimbursement rate. How providers qualify for the higher reimbursement rate could be reconsidered to ensure that providers outside of urban areas are not disadvantaged. Sponsoring organizations could expand efforts to provide technical assistance and nutrition education, especially for providers outside of urban areas.
AB - Research Findings: Family child care providers widely participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), yet their participation experiences have not been studied. To fill this gap, we used a mixed methods approach that combined survey data collected from a random sample of 224 CACFP-participating licensed family child care providers and in-depth qualitative interviews (n = 40 survey respondents). Working within a cost-benefit framework, we sampled from Chicago and small cities and towns in central Illinois in order to compare providers’ perceptions of the benefits and burdens of CACFP participation by reimbursement level and urban/rural location. Reimbursement rate was related to providers’ perceptions of the adequacy of the reimbursement and how difficult it was to purchase food that met program requirements. Location was related to providers’ perceptions of how difficult it was to prepare meals that met program requirements. Practice or Policy: Our findings suggest modifications to reduce inequities in who has access to the higher reimbursement rate. How providers qualify for the higher reimbursement rate could be reconsidered to ensure that providers outside of urban areas are not disadvantaged. Sponsoring organizations could expand efforts to provide technical assistance and nutrition education, especially for providers outside of urban areas.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85071048455&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85071048455&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10409289.2019.1648087
DO - 10.1080/10409289.2019.1648087
M3 - Article
SN - 1040-9289
VL - 31
SP - 153
EP - 176
JO - Early education and development
JF - Early education and development
IS - 2
ER -