‘We don’t want to pull away from the initial purpose’: Program stakeholder concerns about expanding their childhood obesity program to focus on multiple behaviors

Abstract

The main objective of this qualitative study was to understand stakeholder perspectives about expanding their childhood obesity program from a single-behavior (physical activity) to a multi-behavior (addition of nutrition) program. Qualitative data from semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with nine program stakeholders were analyzed with the framework method. Findings revealed stakeholder concerns about program expansion. Specifically, results indicated SES and lack of parental involvement remain significant barriers to nutrition education and reinforcement of healthy dietary behaviors at home. Innovative methods using existing, low-cost approaches such as behavioral texts or other low-cost technologiescan assist health educators overcome many of these obstacles.