Perception of parents in preventing childhood obesity among school going children of Kathmandu valley.

Thesis Report.

ABSTRACT:

Background: Childhood obesity is of global concern because of health effects.it is difficult to determine which factors alone (i.e., genetic, environmental, behavior, or demographic) increase susceptibility to childhood obesity. Parents are the key influencing factor for the childhood obesity through their parenting styles and behaviors. Social behavioral theories and public health evidences demonstrates that including parents in the efforts in childhood obesity prevention strategies can yield a fruitful result.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess perceptions of parents in preventing childhood obesity in school children. Method: The embedded mixed method study was used to study the perception of parents in preventing the obesity of their children. Four schools were selected on convenience basis. Non probability census method was used to include all the children of class 5, 6 and 7 aged 9-14 years, their BMI was calculated and obese children's Parents were contacted and after their verbal consent questionnaire was mailed to them and few were visited at their work place. A forty five item questionnaire and nine semi-structured interview guide was utilized to collect information on perceptions of risk factors, health complications, weight status of the child, the barriers and benefits in the community, prevention strategies and level of importance in preventing strategies. Quantitative data were coded and entered in statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) program version 21 and descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentage, mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics was used. Qualitative analysis was done through thematic analysis.

Results: The study shows that the overall prevalence of child obesity among 325 students was 20.61% among which the prevalence of childhood Obesity in private school was 24.25% while in government school was 14.63%. Although parents had positive perception regarding risk factors of child obesity and level of importance of preventive strategies is higher among majority of parents. Over 80percent parents demonstrated awareness about these two domains. Parent's awareness on other domains, including perceptions about weight and preventive measures against obesity were found to be relatively limited, at 73.11 percent and 67.05 percent respectively although was positively perceived . Similarly, parent's perception about barriers and benefits that were found in the environment which was responsible for child obesity and perception about complications of child obesity was found to be about 65%.

Conclusion: In overall, quantitative results indicates that parents had positive perception about different factors related with obesity. However, when explored deeper through qualitative inquiry, the study still highlights a major gap in parent's knowledge and agency concerning their children's obesity and measures that can be undertaken for its prevention. In that light, this research flags up parental awareness regarding given domains of obesity as an area that can attract interventions in the future.

Keywords: Children, Parents, Obesity, Perception