Parental reactions to weight screening in young children: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND

Parental inability to recognize child overweight and physician reluctance to instigate discussion prevents behaviour change.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate parental acceptance of child overweight status following screening.

METHODS

Interviewers used motivational interviewing or best practice care to discuss overweight status of 271 young children (BMI ≥ 85th ) with parents using simple traffic-light BMI charts. Follow-up sessions two weeks later (n = 251, 93%) were coded qualitatively to assess parental reactions to the information (overweight diagnosis) and how it was presented (feedback condition).

RESULTS

Eight-two percent of parents rated the charts positively with few (8-10%) feeling judged. Motivational interviewing parents viewed feedback as more empathetic (relative risk, 95% CI: 4.07, 1.64-10.09), but more uncomfortable (12.2, 1.48-100.1) than best practice care parents. Overall, 65.2% of parents accepted their child was overweight, 22.1% were ambivalent and 12.7% rejected the information. Although motivational interviewing parents were less likely to accept it (OR, 95% CI: 0.49, 0.37-0.64) and more likely to be ambivalent (2.01, 1.17-3.47), the most important predictor of acceptance was a positive experience of feedback (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Simple traffic-light charts facilitate discussion of child overweight status with parents. Style of feedback is less relevant than ensuring a positive experience for parents to increase acceptance of the weight information.