Understanding the Accuracy of Parental Perceptions of Child Physical Activity: A Mixed Methods Analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Interventions to increase children's physical activity (PA) have achieved limited success. This may be attributed to inaccurate parental perceptions of their children's PA and a lack of recognition of a need to change activity levels.

Methods

Fifty-three parents participated in semistructured interviews to determine perceptions of child PA. Perceptions were compared with children's measured MVPA (classified as meeting or not meeting UK guidelines) to produce 3 categories: "accurate," "over-estimate," and "under-estimate." Deductive content analysis was performed to understand the accuracy of parental perceptions.

Results

All parents of children meeting the PA guidelines accurately perceived their child's PA; while the majority of parents whose child did not

SUBMITTER: Kesten JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4816194 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature