Rural Midwestern Mexican Fathers’ Perspectives on Family Food, Mealtimes, and Physical Activity

Abstract

Two focus group interviews with eight low-income Mexican fathers in two communities in a rural Midwestern state explored fathers' perceptions, behaviors, and roles related to child and family food consumption, mealtimes, and physical activity. On average, fathers were 34 years of age, had 10 years of formal education, and annual household incomes ranged from $36,250 to $46,249. Findings include the identification of fifteen themes through the process of thematic analysis that are organized by five thematic areas of interest (family food patterns, strategies for healthy eating, family roles in food shopping and preparation, family mealtimes, physical activity among families). Findings revealed ways fathers contributed to their children's and families' health and well-being, and challenges they faced. Health promotion efforts aimed at rural, low-income Mexican immigrant families can benefit from embracing fathers' perspectives and how they influence the health and well-being of their children and families.

Hispanic Parents’ Views of Family Physical Activity: Results from a Multisite Focus Group Investigation

“…In addition, parents identified time constraints along with unsafe neighborhood streets and parks as major challenges to being active as a family. These findings are consistent with previous research, suggesting that lack of time and unsafe environments are the reported barriers to PA among Hispanic families [ 15 , 17 , 42 ]. Furthermore, these findings highlight the importance of providing Hispanic families with (a) PA that requires short bouts of time, which are effective in increasing PA in adults and children at home [ 43 ], and (b) tips on how to be active at home after school during weekdays and on weekends.…”

The Lived Experiences of Fathers in Mealtimes: A Thematic Synthesis of Qualitative Literature

“…Sixteen studies conducted across North America [ 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ], Europe [ 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 ] and Australia [ 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 ] were included in this metasynthesis. Sample sizes ranged from 8 participants [ 40 ] to 149 participants [ 47 ], with studies exploring the perspectives of fathers, mothers and families. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were used for data collection and thematic analysis was a preferred method for data analysis.…”

“…The first environmental influence was fathers’ collaboration with their families. Collaboration was defined across studies as the combined efforts of the family to complete meal-related tasks [ 40 , 42 , 46 , 49 , 51 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 ]. In the presence of disagreement, families who did not collaborate appeared to experience prolonged exposure to mealtime conflict.…”

“…Two primary sources of disagreement amongst families were the presence of technology-based distractions at the dinner table and the refusal of new or unpreferred foods. Fathers perceived technology as a barrier to family connection during mealtimes [ 40 , 43 , 54 , 55 ] and shared their attempts to regulate its presence at the dinner table [ 40 , 43 , 54 ]. Children frequently responded to these attempts with resistance, demonstrated by a continuation of device use [ 40 ] or the initiation of an argument [ 54 ].…”

Family Food Environment during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study

“…Additionally, recent research found that moth-ers were more likely to report improvements in relationships with their children during the pandemic than fathers [43], which may be a reflection of the greater amount of time spent with them. Future research may want to specifically examine fathers' perspectives during the pandemic, as research points to the role fathers also play in shaping children's health behaviors around food (e.g., see [44,45]). Similarly, a study that combines parent and child perspectives may provide additional useful information about how children perceive changes in the food environment during chronic stressful periods and how those align with parent perspectives.…”