Health Education Research Advance Access published online on July 5, 2008
Health Education Research, doi:10.1093/her/cyn033
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Developing the IDEFICS community-based intervention program to enhance eating behaviors in 2- to 8-year-old children: findings from focus groups with children and parents
1 Research Foundation-Flanders, Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent 9000, Belgium
2 Unit of Epidemiology and Population Genetics, Institute of Food Sciences, National Research Council, Avellino 83100, Italy
3 Department of Public health and Community Medicine, Göteborg University, Göteborg 40530, Sweden
4 University School of Health Sciences, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza 50009, Spain
5 Bremen Institute for Prevention Research and Social Medicine, University of Bremen, Bremen 28359, Germany
6 Medical Faculty, Department of Paediatrics, University of Pécs, Pécs 7633, Hungary
7 National Institute for Health Development, 50410, Tallinn, Estonia
8 Department of Pediatrics, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Göteborg 40530, Sweden
9 Research and Education Institute for Child Health, Strovolos 2015, Cyprus
10 Department of Public Health, Ghent University, Ghent 9000, Belgium
Correspondence to: * Correspondence to: L. Haerens. E-mail: leen.haerens{at}ugent.be
One purpose of ‘identification and prevention of dietary- and lifestyle-induced health effects in children and infants’ (IDEFICS) is to implement a standardized community-based multi-component healthy eating intervention for younger children in eight different countries. The present study describes important influencing factors for dietary behaviors among children aged 2–8 years old in order to determine the best approaches for developing the dietary components of the standardized intervention. Twenty focus groups with children (74 boys, 81 girls) and 36 focus groups with 189 parents (28 men, 161 women) were conducted. Only in two countries, children mentioned receiving nutrition education at school. Rules at home and at school ranged from not allowing the consumption of unhealthy products to allowing everything. The same diversity was found for availability of (un)healthy products at home and school. Parents mentioned personal (lack of time, financial constraints, preferences), socio-environmental (family, peer influences), institutional (school policies) and physical–environmental (availability of unhealthy products, price, season) barriers for healthy eating. This focus group research provided valuable information to guide the first phase in the IDEFICS intervention development. There was a large variability in findings within countries. Interventions should be tailored at the personal and environmental level to increase the likelihood of behavioral change.
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Received on December 21, 2007; accepted on April 18, 2008