Jarvis Jocelyn W, Harrington Daniel W, Manson Heather
Department of Health Promotion, Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention, Public Health Ontario, 480 University Avenue, Suite 300, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5G 1V2.
School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, Canada, N2L 3G1.
Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2017 May 15;14(1):77. doi: 10.1186/s12966-017-0508-9.
Parents can influence the health behaviors of their children by engaging in supportive behaviors (e.g., playing outside with their child, limiting recreational screen time). How, and the extent to which parents engage in supportive behaviors may be influenced by perceived barriers. The purpose of this study is to explore whether the frequency, and types, of barriers to providing parental support are dependent on the type of child health behavior being supported (i.e., physical activity, recreational screen time reduction, healthy eating, and sleep).
Study participants were 1140 Ontario parents with at least one child under the age of 18 who completed a Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) survey about parental support behaviors. Open-ended responses about perceived barriers to parental support were coded, and aggregated to meta-categories adopted from the social-ecological model (i.e., individual child, individual parent, interpersonal, environmental). Freidman rank sum tests were used to assess differences across child behaviors. Wilcoxon rank sum tests with Bonferroni adjustments were used as a post hoc test for significant Freidman results.
There were more barriers reported for supporting physical activity than for any other child behavior (ps < .01, As ≥ .53). Parents reported more parent level and environmental level barriers to supporting child physical activity versus other behaviors (ps < .001, As ≥ .55), child level barriers were more frequently reported for supporting healthy eating and sleep (ps < .001, As ≥ .57), and interpersonal barriers were more frequently reported for supporting recreational screen time reduction (ps < .001, As ≥ .52). Overall, parents reported more child and parent level barriers versus interpersonal and environmental barriers to supporting child health.
Parents experience a variety of barriers to supporting their children's health behaviors. Differences in types of barriers across child health behaviors emerged; however, some frequently reported barriers (e.g., child preferences) were common across behaviors. Interventions promoting parental support should consider strategies that can accommodate parents' busy schedules, and relate to activities that children find enjoyable. Creating supportive environments that help facilitate support behaviors, while minimizing parent level barriers, may be of particular benefit. Future research should explore the impact of barriers on parental support behaviors, and effective strategies for overcoming common barriers.
父母可以通过采取支持性行为（例如，与孩子一起在户外玩耍、限制娱乐屏幕时间）来影响孩子的健康行为。父母采取支持性行为的方式及其程度可能会受到感知到的障碍的影响。本研究的目的是探讨提供父母支持的障碍的频率和类型是否取决于所支持的儿童健康行为的类型（即身体活动、减少娱乐屏幕时间、健康饮食和睡眠）。
研究参与者为1140名安大略省的父母，他们至少有一个18岁以下的孩子，完成了一项关于父母支持行为的计算机辅助电话访谈（CATI）调查。对关于父母支持的感知障碍的开放式回答进行编码，并汇总为从社会生态模型采用的元类别（即个体儿童、个体父母、人际、环境）。弗里德曼秩和检验用于评估不同儿童行为之间的差异。采用Bonferroni校正的威尔科克森秩和检验作为弗里德曼显著结果的事后检验。
报告的支持身体活动的障碍比其他任何儿童行为都多（p值＜0.01，效应量As≥0.53）。与其他行为相比，父母报告在支持儿童身体活动方面存在更多父母层面和环境层面的障碍（p值＜0.001，效应量As≥0.55），在支持健康饮食和睡眠方面更频繁地报告儿童层面的障碍（p值＜0.001，效应量As≥0.57），在支持减少娱乐屏幕时间方面更频繁地报告人际障碍（p值＜0.001，效应量As≥0.52）。总体而言，父母报告在支持儿童健康方面，儿童和父母层面的障碍比人际和环境层面的障碍更多。
父母在支持孩子的健康行为方面面临各种障碍。不同儿童健康行为的障碍类型存在差异；然而，一些经常报告的障碍（例如，孩子的偏好）在各种行为中都很常见。促进父母支持的干预措施应考虑能够适应父母繁忙日程的策略，并与孩子觉得有趣的活动相关。创造有助于促进支持行为的支持性环境，同时尽量减少父母层面的障碍，可能会特别有益。未来的研究应探讨障碍对父母支持行为的影响，以及克服常见障碍的有效策略。
