Staff Training Interests, Barriers, and Preferences in Rural and Urban Child Care Programs in Minnesota

Objectives: To describe any rural–urban differences in child care providers’ (1) past training on the facilitation of child healthy eating and physical activity and (2) views relevant to the design of trainings. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of data from the 2016 Healthy Start, Healthy State survey of Minnesota child care providers (rural, n = 232; urban, n = 386). Licensed family home-based care providers and providers working at licensed centers responded online or by mail to measures of desired training content, barriers, and delivery mode preferences. Results: Training barriers that were more often a concern for rural compared with urban providers included scheduling outside work hours, difficulties finding trainings, and travel (all P <.001). Rural and urban providers identified similar preferences with regard to training content and delivery. Conclusions and Implications: The findings suggest it would be worthwhile for future research to examine whether rural providers’ training participation is affected by uniquely relevant participation barriers.