The emotional intensity of the mothers' perceptions about their children's eating and weight status suggests that interventions, including communications, need to go beyond information and engage with parents' emotions. Some food concerns were actually related to broader parenting issues and indicate the potential value for interventions to focus on behavioural parenting techniques. Preventive interventions need to acknowledge the issues faced by parents and support their role directly, such as through making healthy and active behaviours easily available, and indirectly, through providing local services, including early childhood services.

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Aim:The incidence and prevalence of overweight and obesity are rising around the world. Health promotion planning must be informed by the knowledge, perceptions, motivations and perceived needs of the target population, but little is known about how adolescents perceive overweight and obesity, its causes and solutions. Methods: A cross-sectional, non-representative sample of 12-to 17-year-old boys and girls (n = 58) attending schools in diverse metropolitan areas and one rural area in NSW, Australia. Focus groups were conducted in 2005 and content analysis was used to identify key themes. Results: The students were aware that overweight was becoming increasingly common. They perceived the negative consequences primarily in psycho-social terms, but were also aware of the long-term physical health consequences. Behaviours, appearance, motivation and self-esteem were used as criteria to judge if a person was overweight and the students distinguished between 'healthy' and 'ideal' (physically attractive) weight. The major barriers to maintaining a healthy weight were home, school and community environments in which fatty/high sugar foods were too easily accessible and where opportunities for participating in physical activity were sometimes limited. Student-identified strategies to address the issue encompassed government policy, advertising and media, schools and home. Conclusions: The students have a mature and complex understanding of overweight and its potential solutions, making them likely to be creative contributors and responsive to wide-ranging, multi-component interventions.

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