Turkish mothers' perceptions of their children's weight.
OBJECTIVE
This study was designed to determine mothers' perceptions and concerns about their preschool children's weight.


METHODS
This descriptive survey was carried out with mothers of 4- to 6-year-old children attending preschool.


RESULTS
The prevalence of overweight among preschool children was 25.4%, but 73.3% of mothers of overweight children did not think that their children were overweight. Only 12.8% of mothers were concerned about their children being currently overweight; 8.1% worried that their children would become overweight.


CONCLUSIONS
Understanding parental views about their children's weight is a key step for designing effective prevention strategies.
Esenay
Figen Isik
FI
Mersin University, School of Health Sciences, Mersin, Turkey. fesenay@yahoo.com
Yigit
Rana
R
Erdogan
Semra
S
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology