title: Children with Obesity Prioritize Social Support against Stigma: A Qualitative Study for Development of an Obesity Prevention Intervention.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Childhood obesity is a world-wide health problem and development of interventions to prevent or control it is a priority. Obesity is prevalent and on the increase among school-students in Iran, too. As the first step for development of an intervention, the current study was designed to complete our understanding of ideas, attitudes, beliefs, and preferences of primary school children in Tehran, Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-seven primary school-students (11 boys, 16 girls) in grade-five, most of whom were overweight or obese, participated in four focus-group discussions (FGDs). All FGD notes were analyzed to find the main themes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nine themes in three main categories emerged after analysis. The themes in the category of barriers of losing weight included environmental, psychological and physiological barriers. Category of intervention components included nutrition improvement, physical activity promotion, social support and education. Setting and deliverer of the intervention were included in the intervention conditions category. The children proposed a multi-component approach for development of an intervention. They mentioned nutrition and physical activity improvement, social support and education as the main elements of an effective intervention.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings indicate that obese children need to be supported against different barriers of losing weight, mainly social barriers, especially humiliation by the community.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Amini
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Abolghassem
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Djazayery
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health and Knowledge Utilization Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Majdzadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion and Health Education, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad-Hossein
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Taghdisi
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Haleh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sadrzadeh-Yeganeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Health, Iran Grid Management Company, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eslami-Amirabadi
keywords: Child; obesity; qualitative research; social support