Current Barriers of Obesity Management of Children Using Community Child Care Centers and Potential Possibility of Utilizing Mobile Phones: A Qualitative Study for Children and Caregivers

Bo Young Lee; Mi-Young Park; Kirang Kim; Jea Eun Shim; Ji-Yun Hwan

doi:10.5720/kjcn.2020.25.3.189

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Current Barriers of Obesity Management of Children Using Community Child Care Centers and Potential Possibility of Utilizing Mobile Phones: A Qualitative Study for Children and Caregivers: Bo Young Lee, Mi-Young Park, Kirang Kim, Jea Eun Shim, Ji-Yun Hwan; Korean Journal of Community Nutrition 2020;25(3):189-203.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2020.25.3.189
Published online: June 30, 2020

¹Graduate Student, Department of Foodservice Management and Nutrition, Graduate School, Sangmyung University, Seoul, Korea

²Research Professor, Department of Food and Nutrition & Research Institute of Obesity Sciences, Sungshin Women's University, Seoul, Korea

³Professor, Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Dankook University, Cheonan, Korea

⁴Professor, Department of Food and Nutrition, Daejeon University, Daejeon, Korea

⁵Professor, Department of Foodservice Management and Nutrition, Sangmyung University, Seoul, Korea

Corresponding author: Ji-Yun Hwan,
Email: jiyunhk@smu.ac.kr

Received: 23 April 2020 • Revised: 24 June 2020 • Accepted: 25 June 2020

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Abstract

Objectives
This study was performed to identify the current barriers of obesity management for children using Community Child Care Centers and their caregivers (parents and teachers working in the Centers). Further, this study explored the possibility of utilizing a mobile phone application for tailored obesity prevention and management programs to overcome the current difficulties associated with children's obesity management.
Methods
The qualitative data were collected through in-depth interviews with 20 obese and overweight children or children who wanted to participate in this study using Community Child Care Centers, 12 teachers working at the Centers, and a focus group interview with five parents of children using the Centers. Data were analyzed with a thematic approach categorizing themes and sub-themes based on the transcripts.
Results
The current barriers of obesity management of obese and overweight children using Community Child Care Centers were lack of self-directed motivation regarding obesity management (chronic obesity-induced lifestyles and reduced self-confidence due to stigma) and lack of support from households and Community Child Care Centers (latchkey child, inconsistency in dietary guidance between the Center and household, repetitive pressure to eat, and absence of regular nutrition education). Mobile phone applications may have potential to overcome the current barriers by providing handy and interesting obesity management based on visual media (real-time tracking of lifestyles using behavior records and social support using gamification), environmental support (supplementation of parental care and network-based education between the Community Child Care Center and household), and individualized intervention (encouragement of tailored and gradual changes in eating habits and tailored goal setting). It is predicted that the real-time mobile phone program will provide information for improving nutritional knowledge and behavioral skills as well as lead to sustainable children’s coping strategies regarding obesity management. In addition, it is expected that environmental factors may be improved by network-based education between the Community Child Care Centers and households using the characteristics of mobile phones, which are free from space and time constraints.
Conclusions
The tailored education program for children using Community Child Care Centers based on mobile phones may prevent and reduce childhood obesity by overcoming the current barriers of obesity management for children, providing environmental and individualized support to promote healthy lifestyles and quality of life in the future.

Keywords: childhood obesity; Community Child Care Center; mobile phone; qualitative study

Korean J Community Nutr. 2020 Jun;25(3):189-203. Korean.
Published online Jun 30, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2020.25.3.189

Original Article

Current Barriers of Obesity Management of Children Using Community Child Care Centers and Potential Possibility of Utilizing Mobile Phones: A Qualitative Study for Children and Caregivers

Bo Young Lee

,¹ Mi-Young Park

,² Kirang Kim

,³ Jea Eun Shim

,⁴ and Ji-Yun Hwang

⁵

Author information

Author notes

- ¹Graduate Student, Department of Foodservice Management and Nutrition, Graduate School, Sangmyung University, Seoul, Korea.
- ²Research Professor, Department of Food and Nutrition & Research Institute of Obesity Sciences, Sungshin Women's University, Seoul, Korea.
- ³Professor, Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Dankook University, Cheonan, Korea.
- ⁴Professor, Department of Food and Nutrition, Daejeon University, Daejeon, Korea.
- ⁵Professor, Department of Foodservice Management and Nutrition, Sangmyung University, Seoul, Korea.
Corresponding author: Ji-Yun Hwang. Department of Foodservice Management and Nutrition, Sangmyung University, 20 Hongjimun-2-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03016, South Korea. Tel: (02) 781-7521, Fax: (02) 2287-0104, Email: jiyunhk@smu.ac.kr

Received April 23, 2020; Revised June 24, 2020; Accepted June 25, 2020.

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Objectives

This study was performed to identify the current barriers of obesity management for children using Community Child Care Centers and their caregivers (parents and teachers working in the Centers). Further, this study explored the possibility of utilizing a mobile phone application for tailored obesity prevention and management programs to overcome the current difficulties associated with children's obesity management.

Methods

The qualitative data were collected through in-depth interviews with 20 obese and overweight children or children who wanted to participate in this study using Community Child Care Centers, 12 teachers working at the Centers, and a focus group interview with five parents of children using the Centers. Data were analyzed with a thematic approach categorizing themes and sub-themes based on the transcripts.

Results

The current barriers of obesity management of obese and overweight children using Community Child Care Centers were lack of self-directed motivation regarding obesity management (chronic obesity-induced lifestyles and reduced self-confidence due to stigma) and lack of support from households and Community Child Care Centers (latchkey child, inconsistency in dietary guidance between the Center and household, repetitive pressure to eat, and absence of regular nutrition education). Mobile phone applications may have potential to overcome the current barriers by providing handy and interesting obesity management based on visual media (real-time tracking of lifestyles using behavior records and social support using gamification), environmental support (supplementation of parental care and network-based education between the Community Child Care Center and household), and individualized intervention (encouragement of tailored and gradual changes in eating habits and tailored goal setting). It is predicted that the real-time mobile phone program will provide information for improving nutritional knowledge and behavioral skills as well as lead to sustainable children's coping strategies regarding obesity management. In addition, it is expected that environmental factors may be improved by network-based education between the Community Child Care Centers and households using the characteristics of mobile phones, which are free from space and time constraints.

Conclusions

The tailored education program for children using Community Child Care Centers based on mobile phones may prevent and reduce childhood obesity by overcoming the current barriers of obesity management for children, providing environmental and individualized support to promote healthy lifestyles and quality of life in the future.

Keywords

childhood obesity; Community Child Care Center; mobile phone; qualitative study

Tables

Table 1
General characteristics of participants

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Table 2
Current barriers of child obesity management

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Table 3
Potential usage of tailored intervention via mobile applications to overcome current barriers of obesity management

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the R&D Program for Society of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (Grant number : NRF-2013M3C8A2A01078464 & NRF-2014M3C8A2A01070970).

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