Public Health, School of Medicine, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, 4222, Australia; Department of Applied Nutrition, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka.
School of Allied Health Sciences, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, 4222, Australia; Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Australia.
Appetite. 2020 Jul 1;150:104649. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2020.104649. Epub 2020 Mar 3.
Poor diet places children at significant risk of over and under-nutrition including micronutrient deficiencies, which is a public health threat to a middle-income country like Sri Lanka. Understanding factors that influence food choices in early childhood is necessary to promote healthy food choices. As parents are the main gatekeepers of children's food environment, this study aimed to explore parents/caregivers' perspectives on the factors that influence their children's food choices. Thirteen focus groups adopting a partial nominal group technique were conducted with 110 parents/caregivers of children aged 2-6 years living in an urban area, Kurunegala District, Sri Lanka. Parents/caregivers were provided with 22 potential factors and asked to rank six most influential and choose six least influential factors on their child's food decisions. Responses were discussed as a group and audio recorded discussions underwent content analysis. Child food preference was ranked as the core driving factor in food decisions of preschool children. Family income, nutritional knowledge of the family, maternal control of food choices and household food preparation facilities were ranked as the next four most influential. Most frequent choices of least influential factors were: individual characteristics of child including sex and nutritional knowledge; and community (environmental) characteristics including seasonal food availability and community cultural food beliefs. Additional influential factors proposed were having a single child, a supportive family network and healthy menu suggestions by the preschool centres. Findings suggest that modifying the food preference of the child and the family characteristics need to be central for effective eating interventions.
不良的饮食会使儿童面临营养过剩和不足的巨大风险，包括微量营养素缺乏，这对斯里兰卡这样的中等收入国家来说是一个公共卫生威胁。了解影响儿童早期食物选择的因素对于促进健康的食物选择是必要的。由于父母是儿童食物环境的主要把关者，本研究旨在探讨父母/照顾者对影响其子女食物选择的因素的看法。在斯里兰卡库鲁内加拉区的一个城市地区，对 110 名 2-6 岁儿童的父母/照顾者进行了 13 个采用部分名义群体技术的焦点小组讨论。向父母/照顾者提供了 22 个潜在因素，并要求他们对 6 个最具影响力的因素和 6 个对孩子食物决定影响最小的因素进行排名。对回答进行了分组讨论，并对讨论进行了内容分析。儿童对食物的偏好被列为学龄前儿童食物决策的核心驱动因素。家庭收入、家庭营养知识、母亲对食物选择的控制以及家庭食物准备设施被列为接下来的四个最具影响力的因素。最常选择的最小影响因素是：儿童的个体特征，包括性别和营养知识；以及社区（环境）特征，包括季节性食物供应和社区文化食物信仰。提出的其他有影响的因素包括只有一个孩子、一个支持性的家庭网络以及学前中心提供的健康菜单建议。研究结果表明，改变儿童的食物偏好和家庭特征需要成为有效饮食干预的核心。
