Parental perceptions of childhood weight status in preschool children

The purpose of this descriptive study was to describe parental perceptions of their preschool child's weight status. Pender's Revised Health Promotion Model was used to guide this study. A convenience sample of 275 parents, who had a child between the age of 2--5 years, was obtained from Women, Infant's and Children (WIC) clinics in a Southwestern city, after informed consent was obtained. The sample had a high number of Hispanics (80%) compared to non-Hispanics (20%). It was found that overall parents perceive their child's weight accurately. No significance was found between the ethnicity, education or age of the parents and the accuracy of the parental perception of their child's weight category. Hispanic children were more often overweight (11.2%) compared to 9.1% of non-Hispanic children (BMI >95th percentile), but Hispanic parents perceived these children to be underweight more often (11.6%) than non-Hispanic parents (7.3%). The significant number of overweight children in this study reinforces the need for culturally-sensitive education for parents, from health professionals, to decrease the incidence of childhood obesity.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Nursing

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Year

2001

Author dc:creator

• Martodam, Alison Faye

Contributors dc:contributor

• Margaret Louis

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/1333

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:rtds-2332