Development and formative evaluation of website-based tool to support healthy lifestyles in family day care

Issue addressed: Nutrition and physical activity practices in Australian family day care are suboptimal. A web-based tool was co-developed with family day care service providers and educators, health promotion staff and the New South Wales Ministry of Health to promote healthier nutrition and physical activity practices through an existing quality improvement process.

Methods: Formative evaluation was conducted in January-February 2023. An online survey included 13 questions relating to content, language, structure, ease of usage and participant satisfaction. Questions used Likert scales to rate participants' experience from poor to excellent. Tool usage data were extracted from the website to reflect user activity. Service providers (n = 3) and educators (n = 9) tested the tool for 4 weeks.

Results: Survey questions were grouped into measures of perceived convenience, difficulty and helpfulness. All participants chose a rating of 'good' or 'excellent' across all questions, with a higher proportion of participants rating the questions as 'excellent'. All participants used the tool at least once. Perceived value of research was the main theme that emerged from the open text feedback.

Conclusions: Results suggest that the tool was feasible, easy to use and relevant to practice. SO WHAT?: This is the first known tool designed for family day care to promote healthier nutrition and physical activity practices through an existing quality improvement process to implement change. An efficacy trial will follow to evaluate effectiveness. The tool is predicted to serve as a platform for identifying gaps between policy and practice and for facilitating practice improvements.