Dietary patterns of obese children: Maternal perceptions and experiences

Abstract

Objective: To understand maternal perceptions and experiences regarding the eating habits of obese children aged five to nine years. Methods: This is a qualitative research, and semi-structured interviews and discourse analysis were used to interpret narratives of 13 women from the city of Fortaleza, Ceará state, Brazil. Results: These women described the eating habits of their obese children in terms of how they eat and mentioned: eating fast, eating in front of the television, secret eating, eating large amounts of food, and the consumption of processed foods that are high in fat, sugars, and sodium. Conclusion: Seeing the mother and her obese child as a unit that needs support and guidance is a big step to plant the seeds to reap the rewards, i.e., exerting important impacts on the lives of these families and on the current scenario of childhood obesity.

Risco psicossocial familiar, coping do tratamento da obesidade infantil e controle parental da alimentação

“…This is an example how works the model of pediatric obesity proposed by Smith et al (2018), and how the cumulative exposure to risks and dysregulation in response to stress contribute to pediatric obesity (Evans & Pilyoung, 2013). This sample presents opposition coping strategies, with emotional reactions of sadness and fear, perceiving the stressors as a threat to their need for autonomy; children are less involved in family meals; present greater difficulty in food control, use food as a reward, being in chronic stress conditions, less likely to be adherent to treatment, and requiring multi-professional interventions with health professionals in the social and mental health spheres (Campos et al, 2017;Fenner et al, 2013;Filgueiras & Sawaya, 2018;Matwiejczyk et al, 2018). Expanding the repertoire of coping, as presented by families at medium psychosocial risk ("Targeted") may be a way to increase adherence to treatment; as well as encouraging physical activity as a way of promoting health and preventing the child´s overweight.…”

“…In this context, adherence to treatment is achieved through lifestyle change (Nguyen & Bera, 2016). It is necessary to evaluate the impact of child feeding practices on dietary patterns, modify parental beliefs and attitudes, perceptions related to children's health threats to change children dietary practices and therefore and contribute to the prevention of obesity (Campos, Machado, Azevedo, & Silva, 2017). Thus, the manner in which parents are coping with their child's obesity and the treatment can affect the health outcome, making coping evaluation important for treatment adherence (Bellodi, 2018).…”