Research On Children and parents perspectives - Health Care Assignment

Internal Code: MAS5796

Health Care Assignment:

This systematic review identified a lack of original research on children and parents perspectives on the sport-related food environment globally. Although there were a number of studies, few focused on the sport-related food environment, and hence data on children and parents views were minimal. Thus, there is scope for further quantitative and qualitative investigations from a variety of jurisdictions to explore in greater depth what children and parents think about this important part of children food environments. Children comments in the literature about the incongruous relationship between sport and some modes of unhealthy food marketing offer a glimpse into how they view the sport-related food environment. However, this was only one specific area of investigation. Children opinions on other aspects of the sport-related food environment warrant further investigation including their views on the physical, political and economic factors. Other sociocultural norms associated with sport including sport-related food rituals and practices, and other influential figures such as parents, coaches and sporting organizations, should be explored. Understanding children environments and discovering the impact they have on young people's lives are research directions that have gained momentum in recent decades. Undertaking a more comprehensive investigation of the relationship between two significant parts of children's lives – the food environment and sport – and their views on that association would contribute to the larger body of knowledge on children's food environments. It is likely that younger children's views of the sport-related food environment will differ to those of older children given their evolving capacities. Such differences were not considered in this review as the wide range of ages and the often overlapping age ranges between studies made it difficult to determine an age cut-off point. This is another area that warrants further investigation. Understanding how the sport-related food environment contributes to parents' ability to provide a healthy food environment for their children has yet to be comprehensively addressed. Further investigating parents' views on the economic and political aspects of the sport-related food environment is warranted in particular ‘teasing out’ the conflict that appears to exist between the perceived harms and benefits of sports sponsorship. Other areas requiring further exploration are determining parents' opinions on where responsibility lies with regard to controlling and countering the adverse impacts of the sport-related food environment, and their knowledge of, and views on, how to initiate change with regard to the inappropriate marketing of food and beverages, and their perception of success in such action. Question: Taking account of children and parents views enacts UNCRC. Doing so in the context of the sports-related food environment would likely create a health-promoting environment; reduce the ubiquity of the availability and marketing of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods in children's lives; and make a significant contribution to reducing the global childhood obesity epidemic.