Are child and parent health behaviors associated with childhood obesity? A descriptive and methodological study

Abstract

Purpose: This study was conducted to determine the relationship between child and parents' health behaviors and childhood obesity. In addition, an adaptation of the Turkish version of the Family Health Behavior Scale (FHBS) was performed in this study.

Design and methods: This is a descriptive and methodological study. The research sample consisted of 358 parents who have a child between the ages of 5 and 12 studying in one of the seven state schools at the kindergarten, primary, and secondary school levels in Istanbul. Data were collected between February 2022 to May 2022 using the Parent and Child Descriptive Information Form, the Family Nutrition and Physical Activity (FNPA) Screening Tool, and the FHBS. IBM SPSS 25.0 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA) and SPSS AMOS 21.0 software were used to analyze the data.

Results: It was found that the confirmatory factor analysis result of FHBS confirmed the original structure of the scale, and Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was calculated as 0.80. A positive correlation was found between the parents' total scores of FNPA and FHBS (r:0.511, p < 0.001).

Conclusions: It is recommended to evaluate the child and their parents holistically in preventing and managing childhood obesity. School health nurses should plan family-centered interventions to improve health behaviors and carry out these interventions with a multidisciplinary team. Moreover, it has been determined that FHBS is a valid and reliable measurement tool for the Turkish population.

Keywords: Child; Childhood obesity; Health behavior; Parent.