‘I just don't want to get bullied anymore, then I can lead a normal life’; Insights into life as an obese adolescent and their views on obesity treatment
Abstract:BackgroundAdolescent obesity is a complex condition involving social, emotional, behavioural and cultural issues.DesignOne‐to‐one interviews and small focus groups with overweight and obese young people were conducted. Qualitative research is an appropriate method to explore the complexity of this issue.Setting and participantsOverweight and obese adolescent's attending a community weight management intervention in South Yorkshire.Main variables studiedInterviews aimed to explore the experiences of obese adole… Show more
“…Normality, from the point of view of an adolescent in these studies, suggested having a boyfriend and the ability to socialize and play with friends . As well as seeing weight loss as the key to social desirability, some adolescents felt that losing weight would reduce the bullying they received, which would lead to a normal and happy life .…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 95%
“…Many adolescents viewed being a healthy weight as normal and held this as the key to being accepted socially . Normality, from the point of view of an adolescent in these studies, suggested having a boyfriend and the ability to socialize and play with friends .…”
Summary
Background
Current UK guidance recommends that adolescents with obesity attend a family‐based multi‐component obesity intervention. However, these programmes suffer from low recruitment and high rates of attrition. Understanding the views of adolescents is necessary for developing future interventions. The aim of this systematic review was to synthesize and explore the views of adolescents who have attended an obesity intervention.
Methods
Published literature was identified by searching six databases. Studies of adolescents (12–17 years) who attended an obesity intervention were examined. Only studies that collected and analysed data qualitatively were included. Full texts were analysed using thematic synthesis.
Results
Twenty‐eight studies were included. Thirty‐five analytical themes were developed that were broadly divided into seven domains. Key themes included ensuring adolescents receive a ‘tailored intervention’ that involves ‘active engagement’. Support from professionals, family and peers were valued highly. Adolescents expressed ‘prior fears of attending interventions’ and wanted ‘longer term support’. ‘Enjoyment of sport and physical activity’ was evident, and adolescents were strongly motivated by improving body image and social desirability.
Discussion
Considering the views of adolescents attending obesity interventions may help to inform policy makers in the development of future interventions. This may lead to an improvement in recruitment and attrition rates.
“…Normality, from the point of view of an adolescent in these studies, suggested having a boyfriend and the ability to socialize and play with friends . As well as seeing weight loss as the key to social desirability, some adolescents felt that losing weight would reduce the bullying they received, which would lead to a normal and happy life .…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 95%
“…Many adolescents viewed being a healthy weight as normal and held this as the key to being accepted socially . Normality, from the point of view of an adolescent in these studies, suggested having a boyfriend and the ability to socialize and play with friends .…”
Summary
Background
Current UK guidance recommends that adolescents with obesity attend a family‐based multi‐component obesity intervention. However, these programmes suffer from low recruitment and high rates of attrition. Understanding the views of adolescents is necessary for developing future interventions. The aim of this systematic review was to synthesize and explore the views of adolescents who have attended an obesity intervention.
Methods
Published literature was identified by searching six databases. Studies of adolescents (12–17 years) who attended an obesity intervention were examined. Only studies that collected and analysed data qualitatively were included. Full texts were analysed using thematic synthesis.
Results
Twenty‐eight studies were included. Thirty‐five analytical themes were developed that were broadly divided into seven domains. Key themes included ensuring adolescents receive a ‘tailored intervention’ that involves ‘active engagement’. Support from professionals, family and peers were valued highly. Adolescents expressed ‘prior fears of attending interventions’ and wanted ‘longer term support’. ‘Enjoyment of sport and physical activity’ was evident, and adolescents were strongly motivated by improving body image and social desirability.
Discussion
Considering the views of adolescents attending obesity interventions may help to inform policy makers in the development of future interventions. This may lead to an improvement in recruitment and attrition rates.
“…Emotional eating was considered a barrier to adopting healthy food habits by adolescents with obesity in a number of studies , some of whom engaged in disordered eating behaviours when faced with upsetting or emotional circumstances . In particular, adolescents reported that anxiety , loneliness , sadness and being upset influenced the quantity and/or quality of the food that they consumed. I think one of the reasons why I probably, I comfort eat a lot and there's like stuff going on, well used to be stuff going on at home which kind of like used to upset me a lot and I used to comfort eat.…”
Healthy lifestyle behaviours are key to successful weight management, but have proven to be challenging to attain for adolescents with obesity. The purpose of our scoping review was to (i) describe barriers and enablers that adolescents with obesity encounter for healthy nutrition, physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep habits and (ii) identify gaps in the literature. We adhered to established methodology for scoping reviews. Six databases were searched (1980-June 2016) for original articles published in English or French that focused on lifestyle behaviours of 13- to 17-year-olds in paediatric weight management. Following screening and data extraction, findings of selected articles were synthesized thematically using a social ecological framework. Stakeholder consultation (n = 20) with adolescents with obesity and health professionals was completed to enhance methodological rigour. Our search yielded 17 articles for inclusion, including 546 unique participants. Barriers to healthy nutrition and physical activity were more consistently related to individual-level and interpersonal-level factors; enablers tended to be linked with interpersonal-level factors. Knowledge gaps identified related to sedentary behaviour and sleep as well as environmental and policy levels of influence. Our review revealed that some barriers and enablers were unique to adolescents with obesity, which were either within or beyond their control. These findings highlight the importance of multilevel interventions to enable healthy lifestyle behaviours for weight management.
“…Rankin et al , ; Kelsey et al , ). In addition, various studies conclude that obesity stigma and bullying can harm emotional and physical well‐being of obese adolescents (Puhl and King, ; Rankin et al , ; Reece, Bissell and Copeland, ).…”
There is limited knowledge about key factors that enable adolescent girls with a low socioeconomic position (SEP) to adopt a healthy lifestyle. This paper aims to better understand the complexity of addressing health behaviour of adolescent girls with a low SEP by gaining insights into (i) the perspectives of adolescent girls with a low SEP (n = 26) on a healthy lifestyle, (ii) how to develop health promotion that fits these girls’ daily realities, by using participatory action research (PAR) in which girls developed health promotion materials. The study offers an understanding of girls’ daily lives and how health promotion could be improved.
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