Psychology and Communication Technology Lab, Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK.
Int J Qual Stud Health Well-being. 2011;6(3). doi: 10.3402/qhw.v6i3.7170. Epub 2011 Sep 2.
Childhood obesity is a major concern in today's society. Research suggests the inclusion of the views and understandings of a target group facilitates strategies that have better efficacy. The objective of this study was to explore the concepts and themes that make up children's understandings of the causes and consequences of obesity. Participants were selected from Reception (4-5 years old) and Year 6 (10-11 years old), and attended a school in an area of Sunderland, in North East England. Participants were separated according to age and gender, resulting in four focus groups, run across two sessions. A thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) identified overarching themes evident across all groups, suggesting the key concepts that contribute to children's understandings of obesity are "Knowledge through Education," "Role Models," "Fat is Bad," and "Mixed Messages." The implications of these findings and considerations of the methodology are discussed in full.
儿童肥胖是当今社会的一个主要关注点。研究表明，纳入目标群体的观点和理解可以促进更有效的策略。本研究的目的是探讨构成儿童对肥胖原因和后果的理解的概念和主题。参与者选自英格兰东北部桑德兰地区的一所学校的接待处（4-5 岁）和六年级（10-11 岁）。参与者按年龄和性别分组，分成四个焦点小组，分两个阶段进行。主题分析（Braun & Clarke，2006）在所有组中都发现了贯穿始终的主题，这表明有助于儿童理解肥胖的关键概念是“通过教育获得的知识”、“榜样”、“脂肪是有害的”和“信息混乱”。充分讨论了这些发现的意义和方法学的考虑因素。
