Poster #107 - Predictors of Parents’ Readiness to Engage in Health Behavior Change Among Families with Overweight Children

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Health, Growth, Injury

Integrative Statement

Over 12 million children in the U.S. are overweight (CDC, 2016). Parents play a key role in shaping children’s diet and activity habits, and thus it is critical to engage parents in efforts to promote healthy weight behavior among overweight children (Wrontniak et al., 2004). However, even empirically-supported weight interventions that incorporate parents can have limited success due to low participation, low completion rates, and poor program compliance (Taveras et al., 2011). The Transtheoretical and Health Beliefs Models show that readiness to change is a robust predictor of treatment attendance, and individuals fall along different stages of readiness (Prochaska, 2003). Parent readiness to change may be particularly important in the context of addressing child weight challenges, as this often requires effortful family behavior changes. Yet, typical child weight interventions assume that families are ready to take action and motivated to acquire healthy weight behaviors (Nock & Ferriter, 2005). Therefore, we know little about predictors of parents’ readiness to engage in health behavior change on behalf of their overweight child. To address this gap, we present a model examining the unique and interactive effects of parent beliefs (about themselves, their child, and health behavior change) on parents’ readiness to change.

We present evidence from a study examining predictors of parent readiness to change family health behavior among parents of overweight children. Participants included 216 parents (Mage=34.63, SD=6.65) of 6-12-year-old children (Mage=8.19, SD=1.9; MBMI =26.4, SD=8.87), recruited via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform. Parents completed an online survey about their self-perceptions (i.e., caregiving efficacy, locus of control), beliefs about health behavior change (i.e., cues to action, benefits and barriers, attitudes, subjective norms), child risk for future problems, and readiness to change.

Hierarchical regression indicated that parent beliefs about health behavior change and parent perception of child risk for future problems significantly predicted parent readiness to change (Full model: R2=.31, F=6.26, p<.05). Although there was not a direct effect of parent self-perceptions on readiness to change, there was a significant interaction between locus of control and parent perception of child risk in predicting parent readiness. Specifically, parents’ internal locus of control was related to greater readiness to change when parents perceived their child to be at greater risk for future problems (Β=.02, p<.01), but not when parents perceived their child to be at lower risk.

Our findings suggest that when parents perceive their child to be at greater risk for future problems, they may draw on personal strengths, like an internal locus of control, in efforts to engage in family health behavior change. This work underscores the importance of targeting parent beliefs in the early stages of intervention. We hope our results will stimulate discussion about ways to enhance parents’ readiness to change as a precursor to intervention and the possibility of tailoring interventions to match motivation level. Identifying underlying mechanisms that account for individual differences in parent readiness to change is a necessary step toward building more effective child weight interventions.

Authors

• Cecily A Basquin, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
  Presenting Author

• Laura Marie Armstrong, UNC-Charlotte
  Non-Presenting Author