What factors influence uptake into family-based obesity treatment after weight screening?
OBJECTIVE
To determine what factors drive participation in a family-based weight management program for 4- to 8-year-old children following screening for overweight or obesity.


METHODS
Children (n = 1093) attended a comprehensive screening appointment where parents completed questionnaires on demographics, motivation for healthy lifestyles, feeding practices, and beliefs about child size, prior to feedback about the child's weight. Parents of overweight or obese children (body mass index ≥85th percentile) attended a follow-up interview to assess reactions to feedback and willingness to participate in a 2-year intervention.


RESULTS
A total of 271 (24.8%) children were overweight or obese with 197 (72.7%) agreeing to the intervention. Socioeconomic status differed in intervention participants (n = 197) compared with non-participants (n = 74), whereas no differences were observed in parental feeding practices, ineffective parenting practices, or self-determined forms of motivation. However, fewer non-participating parents believed their child to be overweight (23% vs 49%, P < .001) or were concerned about it (16% vs 43%, P < .001), despite children having an average body mass index approximating the 95th percentile. Non-participating parents did not expect their child to be overweight (P = .002) and rated receiving this information as less useful (P = .008) than participating parents.


CONCLUSIONS
Preconceptions about child weight and reactions to feedback determined intervention uptake more than parenting or motivation for health. Many parents agreed to participate in the intervention despite not viewing their child as overweight.
Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. Electronic address: rachael.taylor@otago.ac.nz.
Rachael W
RW
Taylor
Sheila M
SM
Williams
Anna M
AM
Dawson
Barry J
BJ
Taylor
Kim
K
Meredith-Jones
Deirdre
D
Brown
D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D009042:Motivation; D009765:Obesity / Q000628:therapy*; D050177:Overweight / Q000628:therapy; D016487:Parenting; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
BMI; Body mass index; HCCQ; Health Care Climate Questionnaire