Examining Child and Caregiver Perceptions of Environmental Facilitators and Barriers to Healthy Eating and Active Living During the Summer Months in a Neighborhood With a High Hispanic/Latinx Population: A Qualitative Study.

BACKGROUND

Children from low-income neighborhoods and of Black or Hispanic/Latinx minority groups are at relatively high risk of accelerated unhealthy weight gain during prolonged school break times when children lose access to a structured environment that provides healthy meals and snacks and opportunities for physical activity.

OBJECTIVE

To identify child and caregiver perceptions of the neighborhood- and household-level environmental barriers and facilitators to healthy eating and active living during the summer months in low-income neighborhoods with a high percentage of Hispanic/Latinx residents.

DESIGN

Qualitative study, using the Healthy Eating Active Living: Mapping Assets Using Participatory Photographic Surveys protocol to conduct in-depth interviews and participant photographs.

PARTICIPANTS/

SETTING

A convenience sample of elementary-school-aged children (n = 22; kindergarten to sixth grade) and their caregivers (n = 12) living in low-income neighborhoods with a high percentage of Hispanic/Latinx residents in Cleveland, OH, June to August 2021.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Participating child(ren) and their caregivers provided their perceptions of barriers and facilitators to healthy eating and active living during the summer months.

DATA ANALYSIS: A priori categories from the Healthy Eating Active Living: Mapping Assets Using Participatory Photographic Surveys protocol framed the analysis. Researchers (n = 2) used comparative analysis to develop a codebook and determine major themes.

RESULTS

Ten major themes emerged within 4 a priori categories: facilitators to healthy eating, barriers to healthy eating, facilitators to active living, and barriers to active living. Participants contextualized these barriers and facilitators through comparisons of the summertime vs the school year.

CONCLUSIONS

Future efforts should further and more expansively explore the food and physical activity environmental disparities that persist among low-income, minority populations that are most greatly influenced by childhood obesity. Appropriate interventions, particularly during the summertime when children are out of school and interact with these environments more extensively, should be developed.