Abstract
The unrelenting obesity pandemic in Middle Eastern (ME) adolescents living in Australia warrants culturally responsive and locally engineered interventions. Given the influence of parents on the lifestyle behaviours of adolescents, this qualitative study aimed to capture the opinions of ME parents on the barriers and enablers to sufficient physical activity and limiting screen time behaviours in adolescents. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 ME parents (female) aged 35–59 years old, most of whom resided in lower socioeconomic areas (n = 19). A reflexive thematic analysis using the Theoretical Domains Framework and the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation-Behaviour model was performed for coding. Parents voiced confidence in their knowledge of the importance of physical activity and limiting screen time but were less optimistic in their ability to enable change in behaviours, especially for older adolescents without outside support. Despite adolescents having the necessary skills to engage in a wide array of sports, the parents admitted deep fears regarding the safety of the social environment and restricted their children’s independent mobility. Gender differences were noted, with parents reporting older girls expressing disinterest in sports and having limited physical opportunities to participate in sports at school. It may be that a community-based participatory framework is needed to improve physical activity opportunities and to address specific physical, social, and cultural barriers.
Highlights
The continuing burden of obesity [1] is not shared but is concentrated in populations from ethnic and racial minority backgrounds [2] and lower education and income levels [3]
It should be noted that interviews were conducted at times during government lockdowns because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which could have contributed to the non-response rates
The lead researcher continued to recruit participants until it was determined that no new topics were emerging from the interviews being conducted and an information-rich data set was obtained
Summary
The continuing burden of obesity [1] is not shared but is concentrated in populations from ethnic and racial minority backgrounds [2] and lower education and income levels [3] This is reflected internationally, where youth such as non-Hispanic black (22%). A series of population data has shown ethnicity to be an independent mediator of unhealthy weight in children [6]. Despite these trends, obesity prevention research is lacking in recruiting adolescents from ethnic minorities [7] and/or in analysing and reporting findings by ethnic group. The majority of interventions have failed to produce sustained weight management [8]
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