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Children talking about healthy eating: data from focus groups with 300 9–11‐year‐olds
Author(s) -
Dixey Rachael,
Sahota Pinki,
Atwal Serbjit,
Turner Alex
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
nutrition bulletin
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.933
H-Index - 40
eISSN - 1467-3010
pISSN - 1471-9827
DOI - 10.1046/j.1467-3010.2001.00078.x
Subject(s) - healthy eating , perception , focus group , obesity , medicine , nutrition education , health education , psychology , healthy diet , childhood obesity , developmental psychology , eating disorders , gerontology , clinical psychology , public health , overweight , physical therapy , nursing , physical activity , food science , endocrinology , chemistry , marketing , neuroscience , business
Summary The aim of this project was to gain insight into children's understanding of healthy eating, and to explore the barriers and facilitating factors for dietary behaviour change in children. The ‘Apples’ project is concerned with obesity prevention, and an understanding of children's perceptions of healthy eating, fatness and thinness are vital in order for school‐based programmes to be appropriately designed and delivered. This paper presents data from focus groups with 300 children (aged 9–11 years) in 10 schools in Leeds, England, carried out in June 1998. Analysis of the transcripts shows that children understood the concept of a balanced diet as described by the Health Education Authority's ‘Balance of Good Health’ model. They were also aware of the relationship between their diet and health, both present and future. ‘Fat’ played a prominent role, with a healthy diet being one that did not contain too much fat. Moreover, they considered that it was fat that caused heart problems, the key consequence of not eating healthily. It was also important for social reasons not to be too fat, although children were also very aware of the health implications of being too thin, and of eating disorders. Children used a number of strategies to take control of their own eating, and the conclusions for nutrition education programmes in schools are that children need to be seen as more active participants in their own health education, and that help is needed to resist the pressures to be a socially desirable body weight.