Division of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston Salem, NC 27101, USA.
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA.
Nutrients. 2023 Jun 8;15(12):2665. doi: 10.3390/nu15122665.
Sugary drink consumption is associated with adverse health outcomes in children, highlighting the need for scalable family interventions that address barriers to water consumption. To inform development of a scalable, health-care-system-based intervention targeting family beverage choice, a formative qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with parents whose children were identified as over-consuming sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) and/or fruit juice (FJ). The first goal of these interviews was to understand, in a diverse real-world patient population, what parents viewed as the primary drivers of their family's beverage choices, and explore how these drivers might need to be addressed in order to make changes to beverage consumption. A second goal was to explore parental preferences for planned intervention components. An exploratory goal of the interviews was to examine whether knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs around family beverage choice differed across racial and ethnic groups in this sample.
Semi-structured phone interviews were conducted and interviews audio-recorded and transcribed.
39 parents/caregivers of children ages 1-8 who over-consumed sugary drinks as determined by screenings at pediatric visits.
Parents were interviewed about family beverage choices and preferences to inform development of a multi-component intervention.
Thematic analysis was performed, including comparison of themes across racial/ethnic groups.
Parents expressed that sugary drinks were unhealthy and water was a better alternative. Most were familiar with the health consequences of excess sugar consumption. They identified many reasons why sugary drinks are chosen over water despite this knowledge. One common reason was concern about tap water safety. Few differences were noted across racial and ethnic groups in our sample. Parents were enthusiastic about a technology-based intervention to be delivered through their child's doctor's office.
Knowledge is not enough to change behavior. Beverage interventions need to be easy to access, make water more appealing, and elevate beverage choice above the "white noise" of everyday life. Delivering an intervention in a clinical setting could provide an extra level of care, while technology would reduce the amount of live contact and decrease the burden for clinicians and parents.
含糖饮料的消费与儿童的不良健康结果有关，这凸显了需要可扩展的家庭干预措施来解决阻碍水消费的问题。为了为针对家庭饮料选择的基于医疗保健系统的可扩展干预措施的制定提供信息，我们开展了一项形成性定性研究，对被确定为过度饮用含糖饮料（SSB）和/或果汁（FJ）的儿童的父母进行了半结构化访谈。这些访谈的第一个目标是在多样化的真实患者群体中了解父母认为家庭饮料选择的主要驱动因素是什么，并探讨为了改变饮料消费，需要如何解决这些驱动因素。第二个目标是探索父母对计划干预措施的偏好。访谈的一个探索性目标是检查在这个样本中，家庭饮料选择的知识、态度和信念是否因种族和民族群体而异。
进行了半结构化电话访谈，并对访谈进行了录音和转录。
39 名 1-8 岁儿童的父母/照顾者，这些儿童通过儿科就诊时的筛查被确定为过度饮用含糖饮料。
对父母进行了有关家庭饮料选择和偏好的访谈，以为多组分干预措施的制定提供信息。
进行了主题分析，包括跨种族/民族群体比较主题。
父母表示，含糖饮料不健康，水是更好的选择。他们大多数都了解过量糖摄入的健康后果。尽管他们了解这一点，但他们还是确定了很多选择含糖饮料而不是水的原因。一个常见的原因是对自来水安全性的担忧。在我们的样本中，不同种族和民族群体之间没有注意到差异。父母对通过孩子的医生办公室提供基于技术的干预措施非常感兴趣。
知识不足以改变行为。饮料干预措施必须易于获取，使水更具吸引力，并将饮料选择置于日常生活的“背景噪音”之上。在临床环境中提供干预措施可以提供额外的护理水平，而技术将减少现场联系的次数，并减少临床医生和父母的负担。
