title: Persistent optimizing: how mothers make food choices for their preschool children.
abstract: Mothers' ability to provide healthy food choices for their children has become more complex in our current obesogenic environment. We conducted a total of 35 interviews with 18 mothers of preschool children. Using constructivist grounded theory methods, we developed a substantive theory of how mothers make food choices for their preschoolers. Our substantive theory, persistent optimizing, consists of three main integrated conceptual categories: (a) acknowledging contextual constraints, (b) stretching boundaries, and (c) strategic positioning. Implications to improve mothers' ability to make healthy food choices that reduce their children's risk of becoming overweight or obese are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Cape Breton University, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada audrey_walsh@cbu.ca.
authors.forename: Audrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Walsh
authors.affiliation: Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: Donna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Meagher-Stewart
authors.affiliation: Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: Marilyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Macdonald
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000329:Advertising; D002170:Canada; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D005502:Food / Q000191:economics; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: children; grounded theory; health promotion; mothering; mothers; obesity / overweight