Abstract
AimTo investigate the effect of a communication tool about diet used in public health nurse consultations with parents compared with standard consultations concerning the 2‐year‐old child's diet.DesignA cluster randomized controlled trial.MethodsTen municipalities were selected randomly and matched in pairs. In each pair, the control or intervention group was randomly allocated. Parents were recruited to participate from January 2015 to January 2017. In intervention clusters, a communication tool about diet was used to help the parents (N = 140) to focus on a healthy diet for their child. In the control clusters, parents (N = 110) attended standard consultations. The participants completed semi‐quantitative food frequency questionnaires at baseline and end point.ResultsNo effect of the intervention was seen on the child's daily intake of vegetables or saturated fat, or body mass index. Significantly fewer parents desired more information about food for toddlers in the intervention than in the control group.
Highlights
According to Statistics Norway (2016), almost all parents and their under-school-aged children in Norway use child health centres (CHCs) providing extensive, widely available preventive health care in the municipalities on a voluntary basis and free of charge (Norwegian Directorate of Health, 2017)
Aspects of food and feeding practices are central to the counselling schedule of public health nurses (PHNs) at the CHC (Norwegian Directorate of Health, 2016, 2017)
A questionnaire study among parents (N = 234) of 1- to 5-year-old children revealed that short-duration breastfeeding or the food neophobia in the child was associated with a risk of poor dietary patterns in children later
Summary
According to Statistics Norway (2016), almost all parents and their under-school-aged children in Norway use child health centres (CHCs) providing extensive, widely available preventive health care in the municipalities on a voluntary basis and free of charge (Norwegian Directorate of Health, 2017). Aspects of food and feeding practices are central to the counselling schedule of public health nurses (PHNs) at the CHC (Norwegian Directorate of Health, 2016, 2017). This reflects parents’ search for trustworthy information if they have concerns and queries related to their children's food and feeding practices (Holmberg Fagerlund, Helseth, Andersen, Småstuen, & Glavin, 2018). An association between healthy dietary habits in children and parents having higher education has been shown in several studies (Luque et al, 2018; Rasmussen et al, 2006; Vepsäläinen et al, 2018). Between 1 and 2 years, persisted into midchildhood or 8 years of age
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
