Details:

Alternative Title:
Prev Chronic Dis
Personal Author:
Cowgill, Burton O. ; Chung, Paul. J. ; Thompson, Lindsey R. ; Elijah, Jacinta ; Lamb, Sheila ; ... More +
Cowgill, Burton O. ; Chung, Paul. J. ; Thompson, Lindsey R. ; Elijah, Jacinta ; Lamb, Sheila ; Garcia, Vanessa P. ; Bastani, Roshan Less -
Description:
Introduction

Overweight and obesity remain significant public health risks for youth in the United States, particularly among racial/ethnic minority groups. Efforts at obesity prevention and control have targeted youth and family members in diverse settings. Although involving parents in obesity prevention programs for youth may improve the potential of these programs, less is known about parents’ preferred methods of engagement, especially among racial/ethnic minority parents and parents whose primary language is not English. In this qualitative study, parents of middle-school–aged children were asked how best to engage their children in obesity prevention and control efforts.

Methods

We recruited 38 parents whose children attended Los Angeles middle schools to participate in focus groups. Two English-language focus groups with 14 parents of different racial/ethnic backgrounds and 2 Spanish language groups with 24 Latino parents were conducted from 2010 through 2011. We analyzed focus group transcripts by using content analysis using inductive and deductive techniques.

Results

Findings from focus groups confirmed that parents want to help their children avoid obesity but feel constrained in their ability to take action. Participants identified an overarching desire to become better parents as a potential incentive to engage in obesity prevention efforts. Parents advocated for family-focused approaches in obesity prevention programs, including family sports leagues and cooking classes. Most findings were consistent between language groups, but parents in the Spanish language groups cited language-related barriers.

Conclusion

The development and testing of simple programs that are sustainable, community-based, and family-focused may empower families to address obesity prevention and control.


Subjects:
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Adolescent Adult Child Communication Barriers Culture Ethnicity Female Humans Male Obesity Parenting Parents Social Environment Students
Source:
Prev Chronic Dis. 11.
Pubmed ID:
24698532
Pubmed Central ID:
PMC3976231
Document Type:
Journal Article
Funding:
U48-DP001934/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United States
Collection(s):
Preventing Chronic Disease
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:32ef6c5e8fe3cf9b199fd5dfb47bcfac7e9d36f7619f6e22c859944966002980
Download URL:
https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/22406/cdc_22406_DS1.pdf
File Type:

Supporting Files

• 	license.txt	txt
  	PCD-11-E54.nxml	txt

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