Perceptions and approaches of mothers towards the weight of their overweight and obese child

Abstract

Introduction:This study aimed to determine how mothers with overweight and obese child perceived their child’s weight and how they approached his/her weight problem. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out between April and December 2017 with 212 mothers who agreed to participate voluntarily in the study at a university hospital and a public hospital. The data that were collected using a questionnaire prepared by the researchers were gathered by face-to-face interview method. The questionnaire consists of four parts including demographic information about the mother and the child, mothers’ perceptions of their child’s weight, mothers’ applications for his/her weight and the methods used by mothers and the attitude they had in applying these methods respectively. Results: The mean age of the mothers was 35.75±5.56. 50% of them had secondary school or below education level. 52.4% of overweight or obese children were girls, and the mean age of the children was 7.94±2.91. Besides, 47.6% of mothers were at a normal weight, 39.2% were overweight and 12.3% were obese. 54.7% of mothers perceived their child’s weight inaccurately. Conclusions: The study demonstrated that the majority of the mothers perceived the weight of their overweight and obese child inaccurately and considered him/ her at a normal weight. Mothers who were aware of the fact that their child was overweight or obese performed various applications to solve the child’s weight problem.