Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Minnesota Medical School, Delaware Street SE Room 425, MMC 381, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA. Electronic address:
Published: May 2023
AI Article Synopsis
Article Abstract
Objective: To examine parent-reported key family meal characteristics to advance the conceptualization of how parents perceive family meals to inform public health interventions and clinical practice.
Design: Cross-sectional study design using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and online survey data from a racially and ethnically diverse population.
Participants: Parent/child dyads (N = 631) with children ages 5-9 years old from diverse, low-income households.
Analysis: Multi-level logistic regression, conditional fixed effects estimators and multi-level logistic models with inverse probability weights.
Results: Characteristics of meals that parents considered family meals (N = 3328) included: homemade, prepared by the caregivers, eaten at home (table/counter), most of the nuclear family gathered, having a conversation and an enjoyable atmosphere (p < 0.001). Characteristics of meals that parents deemed as non-family meals (N = 562) included: watching TV/tablets, non-family members joining, chaotic/rushed atmosphere (p < 0.001).
Conclusions And Implications: Parents consider family meals to be meals that take place at home around a table/counter, with homemade food prepared by the caregivers, and most family members gathered enjoying a conversation without other distractions. Study findings indicated that parents endorse specific characteristics as key for defining what "counts" as a family meal. These findings can be used by clinicians as recommendations for improving one's family meal experience and by future research as the basis for intervening on family meal characteristics and standardization of a definition of family meals.
Objective: To analyze the association of household composition with risk behaviors in Brazilian adolescents.
Methods: Cross-sectional study, with a nationally representative sample of Brazilian adolescents (n=159,245) aged 13 to 17, enrolled and regularly attending the 7th to 9th year of elementary school and the 1st to 3rd year of high school, participants in the National Survey of School Health in 2019. The risk behaviors were: insufficient physical activity, sedentary behavior, alcohol consumption, smoking, poorer diet quality, skipping breakfast and not having meals with parents/guardians.
Background: Athletes' oral health can impact overall well-being and sports performance. This study aimed to evaluate the interactions between eating habits and oral health of 120 young athletes as compared to 30 age-matched individuals not practicing sports based on a questionnaire and the analysis of saliva.
Methods: One hundred twenty subjects practicing various sports activities (test group) and 30 subjects not practicing sports (control group) were selected.
Background: Childhood obesity is a growing global health issue. The World Health Organization identifies obesity as a significant risk factor for Non-Communicable Diseases and considers it a pandemic. This study aimed to investigate headteachers' perspectives and practices concerning childhood obesity prevention interventions in primary schools highlighting the barriers and facilitators for those interventions.
Background: Tuberculosis program effectiveness is majorly measured by disease severity and treatment response without integrating patient perspectives. Yet, it's a critical dimension in clinical decision-making that enhances health worker-patient interactions and increases individuals' sustained engagement with treatment, thereby benefiting the people affected and the wider public by mitigating the infection risk. This study assessed the lived experiences of persons affected by tuberculosis who were on treatment in Nairobi County, Kenya.
