Dr. Bryce Lowery, associate professor of Regional + City Planning, recently published an article titled, “Food Waste, Preference, and Cost: Perceived Barriers and Self-Reported Food Service Best Practices in Family Child Care Homes” in the journal Childhood Obesity. This publication is part of Dr. Lowery’s work with a team at the University of Oklahoma Health and Sciences Center that includes Daisy Butzer, daughter of Gibbs College Dean Hans E. Butzer.
Family Child Care Homes (FCCH) are settings where providers care for children at their own residence. The facilities face unique challenges, which may result in children not receiving optimal nutrition and having a higher risk of obesity. The objective of Dr. Lowery’s study was to determine differences in food service best practices scores between FCCHs who did and did not perceive barriers to serving healthy meals.
FCCHs perceiving food waste as a barrier had significantly lower scores for total food and beverage, fruits and vegetables, whole fruits, and nonstarchy vegetables. Providers perceiving food preferences as a barrier had significantly lower scores compared to those who did not. No significant differences were found in best practices among providers with or without perceived barrier of food costs.
This study’s results emphasized that food waste is an understudied barrier in FCCHs to serve healthy meals. Research is needed to explore these perceived barriers in FCCHs to improve best practices around meals.
Read the full article.
Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to announce the promotion of Ph.D. student Rafael Hernandez to lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve.
Gibbs College of Architecture Assistant Professor Dr. Ladan Mozaffarian, in the Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Design, has co-authored a new book chapter with Josh Newton and Andrew Born, published in De Gruyter Handbook of the Geographies of Race.
Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Design (PLAD) alumni Trey Ingram, AICP recently spoke with current PLAD student and graduate media assistant Molly Strobel to share his experiences with the Regional and City Planning program and current work with the Toyota Mobility Foundation.
