The Article: “Parental Perception of Child Weight: a Concept Analysis”

• The article was published in March 2013 in the Journal of Advanced Nursing
• The author is Nicole Mareno, PhD RN, Assistant Professor of Nursing at WellStar School of Nursing, Kennesaw State University, Georgia, USA
• The concept selected is a parental perception of child weight
• Personal reason for choosing the concept is an interest in childhood obesity topic
• Child overweight affects 18,5% of children aged 2-19 in the US (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019)
• The author’s reason for selection is that perception is studied but lacks a robust conceptual definition (Mareno, 2014)
• They type of analysis used is a thematic approach for content analysis (Rodgers, 2000)
• The purpose of the concept analysis is to define the parental perception of child weight
• The aim is to propose theory of parental perception of child weight and
• Another objective is to analyze antecedents, attributes, consequences of the concept

Concept Analysis Method

• Rodgers’s evolutionary view of concept analysis was used to define parental perception conceptually
• Rodgers’s evolutionary perspective helped to identify key attributes, antecedents, and consequences (Rodgers, 2000)
• The summary of key variables was reflected in a preliminary explanatory theory of parental perception of child weight
• Rodgers’s concept analysis method allowed to conduct a study of articles within the concept
• The author also prepared data for future testing and refinement of the theory

Literature Review: All Uses of the Concept

• The author searched for multiple nursing and social sciences databases from 2000 to 2012
• The author used the following search words: “perceptions, awareness, discrimination, recognition, parent, weight, child, overweight and obesity” (Mareno, 2014, p. 36)
• Several databases were used: CINAHL, Academic Search Complete, Science Direct, ProQuest, PsychINFO, Medline and SocINDEX
• The following inclusion criteria were identified: “English language only; scholarly/peer-reviewed literature from nursing, social and allied health sciences disciplines; independent research studies; and studies of parental perception of child/adolescent weight (ages 2–19 years)” (Mareno, 2014, p. 36)
• The author has chosen the cross-referenced lists to remove duplicate entries
• The author reviewed each article’s abstract to determine research studies and received 58 articles
• Attributes, antecedent occurrences, and consequences of the concept’s utilization were found

Defining the Concept

• Parental perception of child weight was conceptually defined as a parent’s judgment of their child’s body weight formulated by a parent’s recognition of five attributes
• Five key attributes of the parental perception are

  • recognition of body size;
  • recognition of physical appearance;
  • recognition of functional abilities;
  • recognition of psychosocial effects; and
  • recognition of health effects related to current body weight (Mareno, 2014)

Cases or Examples

• Rodger’s evolutionary view presents systematization of research studies with a focus on clear-defined phases during the analysis process
• The method helped the author to determine the inclusion criteria of research studies
• Based on five key attributes, a table with themes and references was created to synthesize research information
• Themes on related characteristics included a rating of the child’s health, CDC guidelines, World Health Organization body mass index classification, etc.
• Further in-depth topics were identified related to the child’s physical appearance, abilities, and health effects
• The examples include “the child is larger than their peers,” “the child is more sedentary or physically slower than other children” (Mareno, 2014, p. 37)
• Among effects were named negative health consequences and signs of positive health (Mareno, 2014, p. 38)

Antecedents

• Five antecedents were found: parental beliefs and values about body weight, fatalism, societal normalization of overweight, parental weight status, and parental mental health status
• The author assumed that antecedents influence a parent’s perception of their child’s weight

Consequences

• The main consequence of parental perception of child weight is healthy weight status for the child
• Four specific outcomes identified: concern, increased knowledge (about health risks related to childhood overweight), motivation to make changes, and family lifestyle changes (Mareno, 2014)
• Parental anxiety, nervousness, or worry regarding their child’s weight status were named as consequences
• Possible eating disorder and other adverse outcomes in children were also mentioned

Empirical Referents

• The empirical referents are the same as the defining characteristics of the concept
• Recognition of body size, physical appearance, functional abilities, recognition of psychosocial effects and health effects related to current bodyweight factors were used to narrow the parental perception concept

Lessons Learned

• The purpose of analysis helped to define the parental perception of child weight conceptually
• Attributes helped to understand the parental view on their children clearly
• Realizing that antecedent factors influence judgments on the child’s weight
• Antecedent factors might include parental opinions about body weight, societal normalization of obesity, parental weight status, and mental health status
• Understanding that healthy weight status for the child is dependent on parent’s attention
• From the practice side, acquiring knowledge that perception of weight is filtered through sociocultural lenses
• Acknowledging that healthcare providers should assess the parental perception of child weight
• To evaluate parental understanding about child weight, open-ended questions should be used
• Management of child weight concerns should be based on sociocultural views about ideal child body weight

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019). Childhood obesity facts.

Mareno, N. (2014). Parental perception of child weight: a concept analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 70(1), 34–45.

Rodgers, B.L. (2000). Concept analysis: an evolutionary view. In Concept Development in Nursing: Foundations, Techniques and Applications (2^nd ed.) (Rodgers B.L. & Knafl K.A., eds). Saunders.