Evaluation of parental health literacy levels, family practices and child behaviors that may affect school-age child obesity

Abstract

Parents play an active role in ensuring their children lead healthy lives. Increasing parental awareness of healthy eating, promoting physical activity, improving education, and raising health literacy levels are crucial for preventing childhood obesity. This study was conducted to evaluate the health literacy of parents and the factors that may affect obesity in school-aged children. This descriptive study was conducted with 568 parents. The Turkish Health Literacy Scale (THLS-32) was used to assess parents' health literacy, and Family Nutrition and Physical Activity (ABFA) was used to assess factors such as poor nutritional practices and physical activity that may contribute to obesity in children. In this study, 31.5% of the parents had problematic-limited health literacy. The THLS-32 and ABFA scores did not differ significantly in terms of sex, the child's date of birth, maternal body mass index (BMI) or paternal BMI (p>0.05). A significant difference was found between mothers' education levels in terms of THLS-32 and ABFA scores and between parents' education levels in terms of ABFA scores (p<0.001). The ABFA scores varied according to the children's BMI scores. Children in the 97th percentile and above had lower ABFA scores than children in the 3rd–15th percentiles did (p<0.05). This study emphasized that parental education level may have an impact on THLS-32 and ABFA scores, that THLS-32 and ABFA scores are positively correlated with each other and that their importance in childhood obesity is significant.