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Evaluating the effectiveness of a parent programme focusing on parental feeding styles as part of a childhood obesity intervention

02 December 2024
Research
02 December 2024
Volume 1 · Issue 4

Abstract

Background:

A child and young people's weight management service developed a parent intervention which uses psychological theory to modify parental feeding practices which are known to have an impact on children's weight status.

Aims:

The first aim of this service evaluation was to assess the effectiveness of the parent intervention programme on improving parental feeding behaviours of children who are overweight or obese. The second aim was to explore if mode of delivery affected outcomes.

Methods:

Secondary data analysis using dasta collected from 75 parents/carers between September 2020 and March 2023 as part of the service's monitoring and intervention evaluation. Paired t-tests compared pre-and post-scores on the Parental Feeding Style Questionnaire (PFQ). An independent samples t-test analysed the effect of mode of delivery, comparing scores between group and individual intervention delivery.

Findings:

Significant changes were found for three PFQ sub-scales: encouragement, t(74)=2.92, p=.005, d=0.33; instrumental feeding, t(74)=2.93, p=.004, d=0.36; emotional feeding scores, t(74)=4.17, p < .001, d=0.46 from baseline to post parental intervention. No statistically significant differences were found for the parental control over eating sub-scale. The mode of delivery was not found to impact the effectiveness of the intervention.

Conclusions:

The parent programme was associated with significant improvements in several parental feeding practices, suggesting that the parent intervention is an effective intervention for educating and supporting parents of children who are overweight or obese.

Childhood obesity is a longstanding national and international public health issue (Agha and Agha, 2017). Data from Public Health England's (PHE) National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) demonstrate the rapid increase in the prevalence of childhood obesity in England. The annual NCMP 2022–2023 results revealed 21.3% of reception children in England were identified to be overweight or living with childhood obesity and 36.6% in year 6 were overweight or living with obesity (The NHS Information Centre, 2023)

Existing research recognises that children living in poverty are at a greater risk of being above a healthy weight (Rautava et al, 2021). Research places an emphasis on the multi-causal nature of obesity (Barry et al, 2009) some of which are environmental factors. For example, existing research recognises that children living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods are at a greater risk of being above a healthy weight (Rautava et al, 2021). In addition to environmental factors, sedentary behaviours, lack of sleep and increased screentime have all be found to be highly correlated with childhood obesity (Albataineh et al, 2019; Han et al, 2020).

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Childhood obesity
Parental feeding styles
Parenting intervention
Emotional feeding
Instrumental feeding