Parent involvement in child anthropometric measurement

Sarah Rae; Frank Ong; Cindy-Lee Dennis; Jill Hamilton; Eleanor Pullenayegum; Jonathon Maguire; Catherine Birken

doi:10.1186/s12875-023-02028-2

Parent involvement in child anthropometric measurement

BMC Prim Care. 2023 Apr 5;24(1):89. doi: 10.1186/s12875-023-02028-2.

Authors

Sarah Rae^{1

2}, Frank Ong³, Cindy-Lee Dennis⁴, Jill Hamilton⁵, Eleanor Pullenayegum⁶, Jonathon Maguire^{7

8}, Catherine Birken^{7

9}

Affiliations

¹ Child Health Evaluative Sciences, The Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada. sarah.rae@sickkids.ca.
² Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. sarah.rae@sickkids.ca.
³ Child Health Evaluative Sciences, The Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁴ Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁵ Division of Endocrinology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁶ The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁷ Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁸ Division of Paediatrics, St Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁹ Division of Paediatric Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Abstract

Background: Young children are often accompanied by their parent/caregiver when attending primary healthcare visits, where clinical procedures such as anthropometric measurements are conducted. Parents are not typically involved in their child's anthropometric measurement collection, and there are no recommendations for parental involvement during visits. The objective of this study was to describe parents' experiences with being involved in their child's anthropometric measurements.

Methods: A 10-question survey comprised of scaled and open-ended questions was self-administered to participants after child anthropometric measurement collection including length/height, weight, head, arm, and waist circumference. Survey data were analyzed using a general inductive approach and thematic analysis. Surveys were collected in participating TARGet Kids! primary care practice sites in Toronto, Canada. Survey respondents included 30 parents of children < 2 years of age, and 30 parents of children 2-5 years of age.

Results: 76% of parents with children aged < 2 years and 93% of those with children aged 2-5 years rated their overall experience in being involved in their child's anthropometric measurement as enjoyable or thoroughly enjoyable. Analysis of open-ended survey questions revealed five themes: [1] parent interest in child growth; [2] ease of anthropometric measurement; [3] extended clinic visit; [4] child discomfort; and [5] interest in participating in research.

Conclusion: Parents reported a high degree of enjoyment in being involved in their child's anthropometric measurements. Parent participation in anthropometric measurement may improve parental satisfaction with children's primary healthcare. Future research may include assessing the reliability of measurements taken with the support of a parent/caregiver.

Keywords: Anthropometric measurement; Child Health; Clinical Research; Early childhood obesity; Mixed methods; Parent participation; Parent perspective; Primary care; Qualitative research.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Caregivers
Child
Child, Preschool
Humans
Parent-Child Relations*
Parents*
Reproducibility of Results
Surveys and Questionnaires