Abstract
BackgroundDespite the high prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity enrolment to weight management programs remains difficult, time consuming, costly and has limited effectiveness. The aim of this paper was to explore parents’ perspectives on factors that influence their decision to enrol in a program to address their child’s weight.MethodsSemi-structured qualitative telephone interviews were undertaken with 21 parents of primary school aged children above the healthy weight range who had enrolled in a healthy lifestyle program. Questions were developed and analysed using the Theory of Planned Behaviour. They addressed parental reasons for enrolment, expectations of the program and apprehensions regarding enrolling.ResultsPrior to deciding to enrol, parents tended to be aware of the child’s weight status, had attempted to address it themselves and had sought help from a number of people including health professionals. Parental decision to enrol was influenced by their evaluation of their previous attempts and their child’s emotional state.ConclusionsAwareness of their child’s weight status is an important first step in parents taking action at this health issue however it is unlikely to be sufficient on its own. Parental decision to join a childhood obesity management program can be complex and is likely to be made after numerous and unsuccessful attempts to address the child’s weight. Strategies to encourage parents to enrol in programs should include activities beyond awareness of weight status.Health professionals should use contact time with parents to raise awareness of the child’s weight status and to provide encouragement to address overweight and obesity. Parents must be supported in their attempts to address their child’s overweight and obesity whether they choose to manage it themselves or within a program.
Highlights
Despite the high prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity enrolment to weight management programs remains difficult, time consuming, costly and has limited effectiveness
Whilst it is likely that various factors impact on the level of parental concern which enable parents to enrol in programs for childhood obesity management little is known about these influences
The sample In seeking to reduce the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity an Australian State Health Department funded the delivery of the Parenting, Eating and Activity for Child Health (PEACHTM) program to reach 1400 children aged 5 to 11 years who were above the healthy weight range for their age [20]
Summary
Despite the high prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity enrolment to weight management programs remains difficult, time consuming, costly and has limited effectiveness. Whilst some parents may be aware of their child’s weight issue they may not engage Another recruitment barrier is lack of parental recognition of their child’s weight issue [4, 5, 9,10,11] which may be the biggest challenge faced by weight management programs. Parents often underestimate their overweight or Davidson and Vidgen BMC Public Health (2017) 17:159 obese child’s weight status, appear to be unable to detect a small increase in their child’s weight, and become concerned only when weight gain becomes significant [12]. Previous research focused on barriers to recruitment to programs for childhood obesity management rather than on enablers to parental engagement
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