After‐school obesity prevention programs: Are engaged parents a myth or reality?

Abstract

Evidence suggests that parental involvement in school‐based obesity prevention programs for elementary school students may improve outcomes. However, parental engagement can be difficult to achieve and maintain, especially among low‐income and rural families. As part of a continuous quality improvement process for an afterschool obesity prevention program for 4th and 5th grade students in East Tennessee, 10 parent focus groups (n=4–14 participants/group) were conducted at the conclusion of the programs to ascertain parents’ perspective about best practices to increase parental involvement and preferred program activities to assist in implementing behavioral changes. The focus group recordings were transcribed verbatim, coded, and emergent themes were extracted, using grounded theory methods. Preliminary findings suggest that although parents desire to make healthful changes for their families, conflicting nutrition messages in the media are major barriers to actually implementing changes. Additional themes that emerged include time constraints for attending parental programs and for meal preparation, lack of skills to prepare meals, and parents’ physical limitations that restrict physical activity. These findings provide insight into ways to engage parents and assist them in making nutrition and physical activity changes with their children.