Table 1 Clusters identified following coding of all transcripts by university-based researchers
From: Parents’ perceptions of reasons for excess weight loss in obese children: a peer researcher approach
Cluster | Description |
|---|---|
1. Recognition that a child is overweight | • How the parent became aware that the child was overweight • Memory (or not) of receiving an NCMP letter • Discussions ‘looking back’ at beliefs about the child’s weight at an earlier time |
2. Parents’ health beliefs | • Parents’ belief as to whether their child is/was overweight • Parents’ beliefs about whether the child’s weight status will change if nothing is done. • Beliefs about the dangers (or not) of being overweight. |
3. Parents’ role and responsibility | • Parents’ views on the legitimacy of measurement /professional involvement in weight loss – should we be weighing children and telling parents their children are overweight in the first place? • Parents’ perceptions of their personal responsibility for making sure their child has a healthy weight. |
4. Protection from knowledge | • Shielding child (or not) from knowledge that they are overweight • Concerns around risks to the child’s wellbeing from talking about/explicitly addressing weight in the home. |
5. Protecting childhood | • Discussions about the rights of a child to have a ‘normal’ childhood, to do what other children do, without being worried about their weight. |
6. Child’s role | • The degree to which parents expect the child to be in control of their choices around weight (e.g., what they eat and drink outside the home) • Parents’ views of the child’s competency to control their eating and drinking. • Degree to which parents feel a child’s weight is the child’s own responsibility. • The degree to which parents involve the child in making lifestyle changes (e.g., gets them involved in food preparation etc.) |
7. Social support | • Recognition of the importance of social support (within the family, or from groups) • Peer influences on the child and their weight-related activities (positive or negative) |
8. Stigma | • Views of fairness/discrimination against people who are overweight in general. • Discussion of whether weight concern stems from trying to force everyone to be a certain size for aesthetics, rather than for health reasons. |
9. Helpfulness of professional support | • Parents’ reports of weight management services and whether they have been helpful. • Parents’ reports of commercial organisations and whether they have been helpful. |
10. Barriers and enablers | • Suggested tips and tactics. • Changes that the family has made on purpose to try to reduce the child’s weight • Changes that the family has made incidentally that have had an impact on the child’s weight • Discussions of how having a child who is overweight has impacted family life. • Barriers to making lasting changes. |