Meeting Report on the Conference on Fathers’ Role in Children’s Weight-Related Behaviors and Outcomes

Abstract

On September 22, 2017, “Engaging the Forgotten Parent: Conference of Experts on Fathers’ Role in Children’s Weight-Related Behaviours and Outcomes” brought researchers, students, health professionals, community stakeholders, and knowledge users from Canada, Australia, and the United States together to Toronto, Ontario, for a 1-day gathering focused on furthering scientific understanding of effective strategies to recruit, engage, and retain fathers in family-based obesity research. Furthermore this conference focused on identifying key knowledge gaps and opportunities for collaborative research to further our understanding of fathers’ roles in the development of their children’s behaviors and weight outcomes. The following four themes emerged from the conference: (1) underrepresentation of fathers in family-based obesity research, (2) fathers’ engagement in children’s weight-related behaviors and desire to participate in research, (3) best practices in recruiting, engaging, and retaining fathers in research, and (4) key lessons learned from fatherhood research in developmental science.