"It's not an issue at the moment": a qualitative study of mothers about childhood obesity.
OBJECTIVE
To explore childhood obesity through mothers' perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.


METHODS
Descriptive qualitative study using in-depth interviews. Sixteen in-depth interviews were conducted with primiparous mothers of children aged 0-2 years. The questions focused on nutrition, the context of eating in the family, physical activity, television viewing, and the responsibility of parents as role models. Thematic analysis was used to identify regular patterns of meaning regarding the major issues pertaining to childhood obesity, nutrition, and physical activity.


RESULTS
Five themes were identified: (1) developing eating habits, (2) developing active and sedentary habits, (3) differences between age groups, (4) sources of information, and (5) response to information. Although awareness about the need to provide a nutritious diet and opportunities for children to be active was high among the mothers, this was not always reflected in their behaviors. For many mothers, obesity became a concern only if excessive weight gain occurred. Prevention through establishing good habits early, although considered, was not always actively pursued.


CONCLUSIONS
Interventions to prevent overweight and obesity need to focus on equipping parents with the skills to translate their knowledge into behavior and lay the foundations early for their children to develop healthy habits.
Zehle
Katharina
K
Health Promotion Unit, Sydney South West Area Health Service, NSW Australia.
Wen
Li Ming
LM
Orr
Neil
N
Rissel
Chris
C
D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007228:Infant Nutrition Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000502:physiology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*