Eight states join Go NAPSACC, UNC-Chapel Hill’s web-based health promotion tool for child care programs
January 17, 2019
In 2019, Go NAPSACC will be making a difference in 20 states, working to improve the health of young children. The program, based in the Children’s Healthy Weight Research Group at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (HPDP), helps child care programs develop environments that encourage healthful eating and physical activity in children.
Dr. Dianne Ward
Dianne Ward, EdD, professor of nutrition at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and HPDP fellow, led the original team that developed the Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (NAPSACC) project in 2002. Her studies have documented NAPSACC’s ability to improve child care nutrition and physical activity practices, policies and environments. Go NAPSACC is the online version of the program.
Alabama, Illinois and Indiana recently joined the Go NAPSACC initiative, while Connecticut, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina and Texas have committed to join in 2019. State agencies, such as public health departments or child care monitoring organizations, that contract with Go NAPSACC receive unlimited access to the program’s online tools. To date, 1,500 child care programs serving more than 73,000 children have used the Go NAPSACC program.
“NAPSACC has helped raise the level of care for our nation’s children for over a decade,” said Falon Tilley, PhD, program manager at UNC’s Children’s Healthy Weight Research Group. “We are excited to continue to build our capacity to offer our online Go NAPSACC program to additional states.”
Go NAPSACC is the evidence-based gold standard in helping child care providers adopt best practices that promote healthy eating and physical activity. Most Go NAPSACC self-assessments are available online to all public health and child care professionals, but contracting state agencies may enroll with UNC-Chapel Hill to access the complete online program.
Earlier this month, to accommodate the program’s rapid growth and expansion, Go NAPSACC launched a redesigned website with improved capacity and functionality. Based upon feedback gathered from users over the past four years, the new website integrates improved visual elements and a new dashboard that facilitates navigation of the five-step change process to adopt healthier practices.
Contact the Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at sphcomm@listserv.unc.edu.
