Abstract
Objective
To explore Latino parents' perspectives on healthy living and identify strategies
to incorporate in a future child obesity intervention.
Design
Descriptive, qualitative study.
Setting
Participants were recruited from an emerging Latino community (area with low [ < 5%]
yet growing concentrations of Latinos) in Allegheny County, PA.
Participants
Thirty-two parents of preschool children participated in 5 Spanish-language focus
groups.
Phenomenon of Interest
Parents' perceptions of a healthy lifestyle (ie, physical activity and nutrition).
Analysis
Data were analyzed using the constant comparison method to identify salient categories,
themes, and patterns.
Results
Three overarching themes were identified: (1) Healthy Living: Beyond One's Control;
(2) Estamos Acostumbrados [We Are Used to a Certain Lifestyle]; and (3) Latin American and US Culture Conflict.
In general, parents perceived maintaining a healthy lifestyle to require enormous
effort and that change was difficult given a lack of knowledge and control.
Conclusions and Implications
Key intervention approaches with this population may include a focus on the family
environment. Increasing knowledge, building self-efficacy, and modeling behavior through
family recipe preparation and physical activity breaks may be necessary, as well as
an emphasis on and orientation to community resources to support behavior change and
physical activity and healthy eating habits.
Key Words
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessSNEB Member Login
SNEB Members, full access to the journal is a member benefit. Login via the SNEB Website to access all journal content and features.Subscribe:
Subscribe to Journal of Nutrition Education and BehaviorAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- The Hispanic Population: 2010.US Census Bureau, Washington, DC2011
- Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011–2012.JAMA. 2014; 311: 806-814
- Prevalence of obesity among us preschool children in different racial and ethnic groups.Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2009; 163: 344-348
- Minisymposium on obesity: overview and some strategic considerations.Annu Rev Public Health. 2001; 22: 293-308
- Tracking of childhood overweight into adulthood: a systematic review of the literature.Obes Rev. 2008; 9: 474-488
- Childhood overweight: a contextual model and recommendations for future research.Obes Rev. 2001; 2: 159-171
- A review of familial correlates of child and adolescent obesity: what has the 21st century taught us so far?.Int J Adolesc Med Health. 2009; 21: 457-483
- The role of parents in preventing childhood obesity.Future Child. 2006; 16: 169-186
- Promotion of physical activity among Mexican-origin women in Texas and South Carolina: an examination of social, cultural, economic, and environmental factors.Quest. 2011; 63: 100-117
- Salud America! Developing a national Latino childhood obesity research agenda.Health Educ Behav. 2011; 38: 251-260
- Fertman C.I. Allensworth D.D. Health Promotion Programs: From Theory to Practice. 2nd ed. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA2017
- Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research.4th ed. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA2009
- Hispanic parental perceptions of child weight in preschool-aged children: an integrated review.Child Obes. 2015; 11: 549-559
- An exploration of how Mexican American WIC mothers obtain information about behaviors associated with childhood obesity risk.J Nutr Educ Behav. 2017; 49: 187-195.e1
- Latina mothers' beliefs and practices related to weight status, feeding, and the development of child overweight.Public Health Nurs. 2011; 28: 107-118
- Reducing Hispanic children's obesity risk factors in the first 1000 days of life: a qualitative analysis.J Obes. 2015; 2015: 945918
- “It hurts a Latina when they tell us anything about our children”: implications of Mexican-origin mothers' maternal identities, aspirations, and attitudes about cultural transmission for childhood obesity prevention.Child Obes. 2015; 11: 608-615
- Latino mothers in farmworker families' beliefs about preschool children's physical activity and play.J Immigr Minor Health. 2016; 18: 234-242
- Influence of social context on eating, physical activity, and sedentary behaviors of Latina mothers and their preschool-age children.Health Educ Behav. 2009; 36: 81-96
- Health Coverage and Access to Care for Hispanics in “New Growth Communities” and “Major Hispanic Centers”.Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, Washington, DC2006
- Participatory assessment of the health of Latino immigrant men in a community with a growing Latino population.J Immigr Minor Health. 2015; 17: 239-247
- 2010 Census, summary file 1: American FactFinder.
- 2015 American community survey 1—year estimates. American Fact Finder.https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_16_1YR_B03002&prodType=tableDate accessed: September 20, 2017
- Latinos' health care access: financial and cultural barriers.J Immigr Health. 2004; 6: 5-13
- Experiences of discrimination in an emerging Latina/o community.Political Legal Anthropol Rev. 2016; 39: 110-126
- Dealing with Grievances: The Latino Experience in Pittsburgh, PA.Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA2012
- Taking Care of Uundocumented Children: How Parents and Providers Secure Health Care for Uninsured Latino Children in a New Growth Community: Behavioral and Community Health Sciences.University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA2014
- The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design.Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA2009
- Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory.Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ1986
- Interpersonal and print nutrition communication for a Spanish-dominant Latino population: Secretos de la Buena Vida.Health Psychol. 2005; 24: 49-57
- Salud Para Su Carozón—a Latino promotora-led cardiovascular health education program.Fam Community Health. 2012; 35: 111-119
- Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Traditions.Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA1998
- NVivo 11 for Windows Help—run a coding comparison query.http://help-nv11.qsrinternational.com/desktop/procedures/run_a_coding_comparison_query.htmDate: 2015Date accessed: September 20, 2017
- The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data.Biometrics. 1977; 33: 159-174
- Qualitative Methods for Health Research.3rd ed. Sage, Los Angeles, CA2014
- Physical and social environmental characteristics of physical activity for Mexican-origin children: examining differences between school year and summer perceptions.BMC Public Health. 2014; 14: 958
- A qualitative study of family healthy lifestyle behaviors of Mexican-American and Mexican immigrant fathers and mothers.J Acad Nutr Diet. 2014; 114: 562-569
- Latina voices in childhood obesity: a pilot study using Photovoice in South Carolina.Am J Prev Med. 2013; 44: S225-S231
- Mexican American mothers' perceptions of childhood obesity: a theory-guided systematic literature review.Health Educ Behav. 2012; 39: 396-404
- Social-environmental influences on children's diets: results from focus groups with African-, Euro- and Mexican-American children and their parents.Health Educ Res. 2000; 15: 581-590
- Healthy eating, activity and obesity prevention: a qualitative study of parent and child perceptions in Australia.Health Promot Int. 2005; 20: 19-26
- Physical activity in Latinas: social and environmental influences.Womens Health (Lond Engl). 2013; 9: 201-210
- Health Behavior: Theory, Research, and Practice.4th ed. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA2007
- Changing children's eating behaviour: a review of experimental research.Appetite. 2017; 113: 327-357
- Associations of parental influences with physical activity and screen time among young children: a systematic review.J Obes. 2015; 2015: 546925
- Traditional foods and practices of Spanish-speaking Latina mothers influence the home food environment: implications for future interventions.J Am Diet Assoc. 2011; 111: 1031-1038
- Ethnic differences in the home food environment and parental food practices among families of low-income Hispanic and African-American preschoolers.J Immigr Minor Health. 2012; 14: 1014-1022
- An anthropology of “familismo”: on narratives and description of Mexican immigrants.Hisp J Behav Sci. 2013; 35: 35-60
- What Is the Evidence on Effectiveness of Empowerment to Improve Health?.WHO Regional Office for Europe (Health Evidence Network report), Copenhagen, Denmark2006
Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 25, 2018
Accepted:
December 18,
2017
Footnotes
Conflict of Interest Disclosure: The authors have not stated any conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
