Challenges Encountered by Parents from Urban, Lower Social Economic Class in Changing Lifestyle Behaviors of Their Children Who Are Overweight or Obese

Background: Parents from urban, lower social economic classes often encounter unique challenges in their lives, which shape how they work with their children who are overweight or obese to change their exercise and eating behaviors at home. The present study took an initial step to address a gap in the literature by describing the challenges that parents from lower social economic classes in an urban city encountered in changing exercise and eating behaviors of their children who are overweight or obese.

Methods: A conversational style semi-structured interview with prompts and probes was conducted to 44 parents whose child is overweight or obese. Inductive content analysis and constant comparison was used to analyze the data. Data trustworthiness was established by using a variety of strategies.

Results: Two major themes with eight sub-themes emerged from the data: Challenges to promote a healthy active lifestyle, and challenges from their child's development and lifestyle behavior. Eight sub-themes were: (1) Need for effective strategies for a lifestyle behavior change, (2) monitor and promote healthy choices, (3) money, time, and dangerous neighborhood, (4) scientific knowledge to promote a healthy active lifestyle, (5) developmental changes of adolescence, (6) unmotivated and lack of persistence, (7) sneaking eating, and (8) peer pressure.

Conclusion: The challenges, from economic to parenting, are certainly of importance, and understanding these challenges will be crucial to help school-based professionals develop interventions. Those identified challenges should be clearly placed within family-school collaboration practices.