Mothers' perceptions of overweight and obesity in their children.
BACKGROUND
Childhood obesity is a growing health concern and the literature implicates parents, particularly mothers.


OBJECTIVE
To develop understandings into the views of a group of mothers with an overweight or obese child, about their child's overweight or obesity.


METHODS
A qualitative design informed by feminist insights. Eleven English speaking mothers of at least one overweight or obese child were drawn from a large urban community in metropolitan Australia to participate in this study.


RESULTS
Participants attributed their child's obesity to factors such as slow metabolism, sedentary lifestyle, familial or cultural factors, genetics, eating habits such as not drinking enough water, or not chewing food adequately. Participants were very concerned about their child's weight problems and their immediate concerns focussed on social problems associated with obesity/overweight.


CONCLUSIONS
Understanding parental views about their children's overweight and obesity is a key step in forming effective liaisons between health professionals and parents.
Jackson
Debra
D
School of Nursing, Family and Community Health, College of Social and Health Sciences, University of Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. debra.jackson@uws.edu.au
McDonald
Glenda
G
Mannix
Judy
J
Faga
Pat
P
Firtko
Angela
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000523:psychology; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000235:genetics / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D050177:Overweight; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012938:Social Perception