Reneé Krysko Davis, MPH¹, Tonya Arscott-Mills, MD², Kyung Rhee, MD³, Pierre Chanoine, MD², and Cynthia Delago, MD, MPH². (1) School of Public Health, Drexel University, 245 North 15th Street, Mail Stop 660, Philadelphia, PA 19102, 856-667-5907, rk38@drexel.edu, (2) Department of Pediatrics, St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, Erie Ave. at Front St., Philadelphia, PA 19134, (3) Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center, One Boston Medical Center Place, Boston, MA 02118

Background: Overweight children rely on their parents to initiate effective weight-reducing changes. What weight management interventions do parents institute and what factors influence their decisions?

Objective: Assess parental perceptions of their child's weight and the weight-reducing changes they encourage.

Design: Cross-sectional, descriptive study of urban parents of overweight children.

Methods: Parents of at-risk-for-overweight (BMI % for age /gender ≥ 85%, but < 95%) and obese (BMI % ≥ 95%) 2 - 12 year old children identified during well child visits were surveyed. Parental perceptions of their child's weight and weight-reducing activities were identified.

Results: Of 155 children whose parents were surveyed, 39% were at-risk-for-overweight and 61% were obese. Only 48% of parents perceived their child as "overweight" and 25% considered their child's weight a health problem. Parents describing themselves as overweight were more likely than self-described average-weight parents to identify their child as overweight (p < 0.01). Parents identifying their child as overweight were also more likely to consider their child's weight a health problem (p < 0.001). These children were more often older (p < 0.01) and obese (p < 0.001). Of the 61 parents who either stated that their child's weight is a problem (n=40) or were not sure (n=21), 89% indicated they encouraged weight-reducing activities. However, only 58% encouraged both lifestyle and dietary changes.

Conclusions: Many parents do not recognize the health implications of childhood obesity. Of those parents motivated to make changes, very few were following recommendations to alter both lifestyle and nutritional intake.

Learning Objectives:

• Assess parental perceptions of their overweight children and factors related to these perceptions.
• Identify weight-reducing activities encouraged by parents of overweight children.
• Discuss how parental perceptions of their children's weight are related to their motivation to help their children lose weight.

Keywords: Children's Health, Obesity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.