Wendy Wills

Parental perceptions regarding healthy behaviours for preventing overweight and obesity in young children: a systematic review of qualitative studies

Evidence is increasingly pointing towards the importance of early life strategies to prevent childhood overweight and obesity. This systematic review synthesizes qualitative research concerning parental perceptions regarding behaviours for preventing overweight and obesity in young children. During May and June 2008, a range of electronic databases were searched and together with lateral searching techniques 21 studies were identified for review. Data extraction and synthesis using thematic content analysis revealed six organizing and 32 finer level themes. These related to child factors, family dynamics, parenting, knowledge and beliefs, extra‐familial influences and resources and environment. Themes were mapped to a socioecological model which illustrated how factors at individual, interpersonal, community, organizational and societal levels interact in complex ways to impact on parental perceptions about healthy behaviours for preventing child overweight. Although parents suggested several ideas to promote healthy child weight‐related behaviours, many of their views concerned perceived barriers, some of which may be amenable to practical intervention. Furthermore, intergenerational influences on parental health beliefs and knowledge suggest that health promotion strategies may be more effective if directed at the wider family, rather than parents alone. Significantly, many parents believed strategies to promote healthy weight should start early in a childs life.

The framing of social class distinctions through family food and eating practices

Drawing on two qualitative studies which looked at diet, weight and health from a social class perspective, we use Bourdieus theory of habitus to help explain the different food and eating practices undertaken by families with young teenagers. Whilst the families displayed considerable reflexivity when making decisions about what to eat on a daily basis, the analysis highlighted that everyday behaviours are still bounded by distinctions of taste, according to social position. The paper includes an examination of the relationships between different forms of capital and whether form or functionality is prioritised within families. We show the importance of temporal frameworks when interpreting classed food and eating practices.

If the Food Looks Dodgy I Dinnae Eat It : teenagers' accounts of food and eating practices in socio-economically disadvantaged families

This paper examines how young teenagers living in socio-economically disadvantaged families perceive everyday food and eating practices within the home. From in-depth interviews with 36 Scottish teenagers aged 13-14 years, we analysed teenagers’ accounts of contemporary ‘family meals’. We found that food and eating practices were negotiated amidst complex family arrangements with extended, resident and non-resident kin. Parents were often reported to provide food ‘on demand’, a flexible arrangement which seemed to reflect both teenagers’ and parents’ lifestyles and personal relationships. Teenagers often contested the consumption of particular foods which sometimes reflected and reinforced their relationship with a biological or non-biological parent. Teenagers could differentiate themselves from others through their food preferences and tastes and food consumption therefore helped shaped their identity. Many teenagers claimed that parents set rules regarding food and eating, thereby creating boundaries within which their consumption choices had to remain. We discuss whether and how these findings are a reflection of the socio-economic status of the participating families and conclude that exploring food and eating practices is a powerful lens for the examination of family life.

Food and family practices: teenagers, eating and domestic life in differing socio-economic circumstances

This paper draws on accounts from young teenagers and their parents in two linked qualitative studies of families living in Scotland in differing socio-economic circumstances. We compare and contrast teenager experiences of eating practices and food choice in these families. We show the range of meanings attached to how, where and what these teenagers and their parents described as everyday eating behaviours at home and locate these in the wider constraints, opportunities and aspirations affecting their lives.

Using Spoken and Written Qualitative Methods to Explore Children's and Young People's Food and Eating Practices

Research examining childrens and young peoples food and eating practices has become more common place in recent years. Qualitative methods can be useful in such sense-making research, where an individuals narrative is likely to involve complexity, contradiction and ambiguity. Speaking and writing about food and eating can offer participants of all ages and most abilities the opportunity to delve into their own world of practice. Commonly used methods, like the individual interview and focus group, whilst suitable for studies of this kind, are not without their drawbacks. There are important ethical issues concerning childrens privacy and their right not to reveal ‘too much’ to the researcher or their family. Innovative methods which deserve greater consideration include audio diaries, memory work/books, email interviews and interviews ‘on the move’. All offer the researcher the opportunity to build rapport with and collect narratives about food and eating from children and young people.

Consuming Fast Food: The Perceptions and Practices of Middle-Class Young Teenagers

Children in the United Kingdom are widely believed to be consuming fast food in vast quantities with little thought for their own health or weight. Enter ‘teenagers’ and ‘fast food’ into any internet search engine and you will discover literally millions of web-based stories and sites focusing on addictions to fast food, guides alerting young people to the poor nutritional quality of such food, food scares affecting fast food-eating teenagers and so on. In 2008, the Daily Mail, a British tabloid newspaper, reported that the police were using burgers and stuffed crust pizza to bribe teenagers to improve their behaviour (Daily Mail 2008), thus linking the popular obsessions of junk-fuelled diets with problem youth.

Reflections on the Use of Visual Methods in a Qualitative Study of Domestic Kitchen Practices

Understanding everyday social practices is challenging as many are mundane and taken for granted and therefore difficult to articulate or recall. This paper reflects on the challenges encountered in a qualitative study underpinned by current theories of practice that incorporated visual methods. Using this approach meant everyone in a sample of 20 household cases, from children through to adults in their 80s, could show and tell their own stories about domestic kitchen practices. Households co-produced visual data with the research team through kitchen tours, photography, diaries/scrapbooks, informal interviews and recording video footage. The visual data complemented and elaborated on the non-visual data and contradictions could be thoroughly interrogated. A significant challenge was handling the substantial insight revealed about a household through visual methods, in terms of household anonymity. The paper reflects on the challenges of a visual approach and the contribution it can make in an applied sociological study.

Lunchtime food and drink purchasing: young people’s practices, preferences and power within and beyond the school gate

Abstract This paper highlights factors that influence young people aged 13–15 years when purchasing food or drink within or beyond the school catering service. The paper draws from a qualitative study of secondary schools in Scotland, which varied in terms of relative socio-economic deprivation and density of food and drink businesses within a 10-min walk. Analysis is situated within a children’s rights framework, underpinned by the sociology of childhood in order to make sense of the power and influence that young people have when purchasing food and drink. The data suggest that the school cafeteria is less able to meet young people’s social and food needs than the external food environment. The commercial basis of young people’s relationship with food businesses informs the way young people are treated as valued consumers. The authors consider the implications this has for the way that food and drink is sold and promoted in schools.

Attitudes to weight and weight management in the early teenage years : A qualitative study of parental perceptions and views

As most young teenagers grow up in families, parents might be well situated to facilitate and support their weight management and thereby prevent or manage obesity prior to adulthood.

Rethinking children’s public health: the development of an assets model

It has been suggested that asset-based strategies could provide an opportunity to rethink the approach to public health; however, this may not be a viable option unless there is clear recognition of specific individual assets. Although there has been some consideration of assets within a child health context, this is limited and previous studies have not sought to identify assets from the perspective of the child. This paper reports on a study that drew on an ethnographic approach, using a photo-elicitation method, to facilitate the mapping of children’s internal and external assets from the viewpoint of children themselves. Two primary schools in the South-East of England were used to recruit 20 year five children (aged 9–11 years of age). The participants, 10 boys and 10 girls, were given disposable cameras and asked to take photographs of the activities that they enjoyed. The children’s photographs were used as prompts during individual semi-structured interviews. A constant comparative analysis facilitated the mapping of the children’s assets as the children described them; this process revealed one overall stabilising asset (‘My Family’) as well as eight internal and three external assets. All of the assets are presented within an original model, ‘I’m good’: the children’s asset wheel [CAW], which was developed from the findings. It is suggested that the CAW could complement previous asset-based work to facilitate the rethinking of approaches to the enhancement of children’s public health.