Paper
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Barriers for Parental Involvement in School-Based Childhood Obesity Prevention Programs: Is Human Subject Protection a Major Factor?
Linda F. Samson, PhD, RN, BC, CNAA, Governors State University, University Park, IL, USA and Constance Edwards, PhD, RN, Department of Nursing, Governors State University, University Park, IL, USA.
| Learning Objective #1: Identify three barriers for parental participation in school-based childhood obesity prevention programs |
| Learning Objective #2: Describe two issues related to balancing HIPAA considerations with participation in research efforts |
Childhood obesity is increasing dramatically in the United States. Concern has been expressed about effectiveness of strategies to reduce obesity. Work conducted as a part of an NIH Project EXPORT Centers of Excellence in Health Disparities Research program, identified parental involvement as a key variable in securing behavioral change in children. This aspect of the overall research was conducted to help identify and explain barriers encountered in getting parental participation in school-based childhood obesity prevention programs. A combination of methods was used to elicit perceived parental barriers. These methods included focus groups, anecdotal information from on-site researchers, interviews with parental liaisons and school administrators, and discussions with teachers and parents. Results of the research indicated that the process for securing human subject protection was a major barrier for parental involvement. Required HIPAA language, despite alternative language choices was negatively perceived by many of the potential parent participants. Concerns included confidentiality and potential emotional harm. Other barriers to parental involvement included values about health promotion and family perceptions of what constituted obesity. Between group comparison demonstrated greater success in achieving parental participation when children and teachers worked together to accomplish the goal versus relying on the children only to engage their parents. Getting children engaged, actively involving children in planning and program delivery, offering incentives to participants appropriate to the research, simplifying human subject and privacy protection implementation, and reducing parents' time commitment are likely to increase the level of the parental involvement.