141st APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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Educating parents about sugar sweetened beverages should begin with prenatal care: Findings from focus group interviews


Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Jen Nickelson, PhD, RD, Department of Health Science, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
Kate Hendricks, MS, Doctoral Candidate, Department of Health Science, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
BACKGROUND: Obesity affects about 10% of American children ≤ 5 years old. One recommended community strategy for preventing obesity is discouraging sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption. Little is known about parents' perceptions of appropriate SSB health message delivery. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore ways to improve health message delivery aimed at parents' limiting their children's SSB intake. METHODS: Parents of children ≤ 5 years old from WIC and the university childcare center participated in four focus group interviews, conducted according to approved standards. Researchers transcribed and coded interviews, reviewed codes for common themes; and selected exemplar parent quotations.

RESULTS: Parents suggested a variety of SSB health communication message strategies, beginning as early as pregnancy. Specifically, parents recommended that prenatal care providers encourage mothers to begin planning for their children's nutrition during pregnancy while they are already in a "really good mindset to think about healthy eating for your child." "Because it doesn't make sense to just eat healthy when you're pregnant so baby can get a good start and then feed them crap once they're here." A common barrier to limiting SSBs for busy parents is not planning ahead. To encourage pre-planning, parents advocated for SSB messages delivered by prenatal care providers at multiple interludes before delivery.

DISCUSSION: The findings of this study will be used to explore the viability of a health communication strategy delivered by prenatal care providers aimed at parents' limiting their children's SSB intake.

Learning Areas:

Communication and informatics
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
Discuss ways to improve health message delivery aimed at parents, with the specific purpose of limiting Sugar-Sweetened Beverage (SSB) intake in infants and children.

Keyword(s): Health Communications, Prenatal Interventions

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I, Dr. Jen Nickelson, am a Registered Dietitian and earned my PhD in Public Health with an emphasis in public health education and social marketing from the University of South Florida, College of Public Health. I am currently and Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama. My research agenda focuses on obesity and improving nutrition and physical activity behaviors. My work has been extensively-published in peer-reviewed journals like: Health Education Research, and Preventing Chronic Disease.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4270.0: Issues in Infant and Early Childhood Health