Maltese parents' perceptions of their child's weight.

Abstract

It is widely known that obesity increases risk of morbidity and mortality. Malta has a prevalence· of 36% of overweight and obese children aged seven to eleven years, the highest prevalence among European countries (International Obesity Task Force [IOTF], 2005). Hence, achieving higher standards of children's nutrition and physical activity to improve their well-being and protect their health is a major public health priority (IOTF, 2005). Adopting wide ranging and effective childhood obesity prevention/reduction strategies may necessitate an understanding of Maltese parents' perceptions of their child's weight status. The aim of this quantitative cross-sectional survey design was to examine Maltese parents' perceptions and concern about their child's weight as well as influencing factors. Data was collected through self-administered questionnaires disseminated to parents with children in Year 1 of randomly selected state primary schools in the six regions of Malta, including Gozo. The response rate was 86%. The findings of this study were based on 408 parental questionnaires and their child's measurements. The majority of parent participants were mothers (87.9%). Findings showed that overall, 38% of five to six-year-old children were overweight or obese (n=155) according to IOTF criteria (2000). A significant difference was found in overweight prevalence among the different regions. Findings indicated that 16% of respondents with overweight and obese children had a correct image perception of their child's physical stature in contrast to 21% of parents who correctly classified their overweight or obese child's weight status in verbal terms. Moreover, among parents of overweight and obese children, 33% were concerned about their child's weight at the time of data collection, whilst 62% were concerned about their child's future weight. A number of factors, including parental recall of doctor's concern about their child's weight, parental perception that their child was slower or less active than other children and the child's body mass index, were found to influence parental perceptions and their concern about their child's weight. As an outcome of this study, recommendations for practice, nursing education and further research are presented. It was anticipated that evidence from this study may facilitate the development of such strategies that are tailor-made to the local parent/child population .