Parental experiences of adopting healthy lifestyles for children with disabilities living with overweight and obesity

Background: Children with disabilities present with high obesity rates.

Objective: This study explored the parental experience of adopting healthy lifestyle choices, for children with disabilities, who received dietetic weight management advice.

Methods: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were carried out with eight parents/carers in their own homes or healthcare setting in an inner London locality, or by telephone. Data was analyzed using an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach.

Results: Five superordinate themes emerged: 1. Strategies to promote healthy lifestyles: encouraging physical activity, limiting access to food and taking a gradual approach to making lifestyle changes. 2. Challenges to adopting healthy lifestyles: selective eating patterns, the high cost of healthy foods and parental/carer lack of time. 3. The role of healthcare professionals (HCPs): revealed that not all parents/carers received advice or support, prior to dietetic referral, when managing their child's weight. Feeling reassured by HCPs was valued. Parents/carers reported a positive experience of seeing the dietitian, as they appreciated receiving practical and individualized advice. 4. Support needs: family support and support from families with children with disabilities was explored. 5. Parent/carer wellbeing: such as stress was found to have a detrimental impact on parents making healthy lifestyle changes.

Conclusions: Adopting a healthy lifestyle involved a variety of strategies and challenges, some of which are specific to this population group and should be considered by HCPs, when having weight-related discussions and offering advice. Parental/carer support needs and wellbeing should also be taken into consideration when planning weight management services for this population group.