Wittels P, Kay T, Mansfield L
Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UK.
Independent Researcher, Loughborough, UK.
BMC Public Health. 2022 Jun 1;22(1):1092. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-13502-4.
Public health guidance and associated interventions seek to bring about change in diet and physical activity behaviours to improve life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in the population. Low socioeconomic status (SES) groups suffer from reduced life/healthy life expectancy compared with the population as a whole. This in-depth qualitative study, investigates the lives and experiences of mothers with young children living in a low SES area in a London (UK) borough, to understand the context in which current public health guidance on diet and physical activity is received and viewed, and how this understanding could be used to inform the development of public health guidance and interventions for this group.
The mothers (n = 20), were recruited from a Surestart Centre, Children's Centres and through the local branch of a national charity. The mothers took part in a series of three in depth interviews over two years (2016-2017). Thematic analysis was used to generate an iterative set of codes informing an understanding of motherhood, diet and physical activity.
Motherhood was found to be a major factor for understanding and interpreting how women in low SES areas respond to public health guidance on diet and physical activity. The mothers were well informed about dietary guidance, considered that provision of healthy food was critical to the mothering role, but found it difficult to implement the guidance in their own lives. In contrast, physical activity was not seen as integral to the mothering role, although it was acknowledged that it played a part in ensuring that the mothers remained healthy enough to fulfil all their duties. Constrained by the ethic of care, and a lack of material and time resources, the mothers prioritised their family's health above their own. This study, enabled the mothers to articulate ideas for interventions that would be supportive of a healthy lifestyle and of practical application in their busy lives.
Mothers from this low SES area responded differently to the public health guidance on diet and on physical activity. Whilst providing and modelling a healthy diet was seen as an essential part of the mother's role, participating in leisure based physical activity was problematic, and unless carefully framed, could be perceived as selfish behaviour, inappropriate for the "good" mother.
公共卫生指南及相关干预措施旨在促使人们改变饮食和身体活动行为，以提高人群的预期寿命和健康预期寿命。与总体人群相比，社会经济地位较低（SES）的群体预期寿命/健康预期寿命缩短。这项深入的定性研究调查了居住在英国伦敦一个行政区低SES地区的有幼儿的母亲的生活和经历，以了解她们接受和看待当前饮食及身体活动公共卫生指南的背景，以及如何利用这一认识为该群体制定公共卫生指南和干预措施提供信息。
从一个Surestart中心、儿童中心以及通过一家全国性慈善机构的当地分支机构招募了20位母亲。这些母亲在两年时间里（2016 - 2017年）参加了一系列三次深入访谈。采用主题分析法生成一系列迭代代码，以增进对母亲身份、饮食和身体活动的理解。
发现母亲身份是理解和解读低SES地区女性如何应对饮食及身体活动公共卫生指南的一个主要因素。这些母亲对饮食指南有充分了解，认为提供健康食品对母亲角色至关重要，但发现难以在自己的生活中实施这些指南。相比之下，尽管人们承认身体活动在确保母亲保持足够健康以履行所有职责方面发挥着作用，但身体活动并未被视为母亲角色的一个组成部分。受关爱伦理以及缺乏物质和时间资源的限制，这些母亲将家人的健康置于自己的健康之上。这项研究使这些母亲能够阐明对干预措施的想法，这些干预措施将支持健康的生活方式并在她们忙碌的生活中实际应用。
来自这个低SES地区的母亲对饮食和身体活动方面的公共卫生指南反应不同。虽然提供和示范健康饮食被视为母亲角色的一个重要部分，但参与基于休闲的身体活动存在问题，而且除非精心策划，否则可能被视为自私行为，不符合“好”母亲的形象。
