Parental perspectives on negotiations over diet and physical activity: how do we involve parents in adolescent health interventions?

OBJECTIVE: To identify the ways in which parental involvement can be incorporated into interventions to support adolescent health behaviour change. DESIGN: Data from semi-structured interviews were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. SETTING: Southampton, Hampshire, UK. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of twenty-four parents of adolescents. RESULTS: Parents consider themselves to play an important role in supporting their adolescents to make healthy choices. Parents saw themselves as gatekeepers of the household and as role models to their adolescents but recognised this could be both positive and negative in terms of health behaviours. Parents described the changing dynamics of the relationships they have with their adolescents because of increased adolescent autonomy. Parents stated that these changes altered their level of influence over adolescents' health behaviours. Parents considered it important to promote independence in their adolescents; however, many described this as challenging because they believed their adolescents were likely to make unhealthy decisions if not given guidance. Parents reported difficulty in supporting adolescents in a way that was not viewed as forceful or pressuring. CONCLUSIONS: When designing adolescent health interventions that include parental components, researchers need to be aware of the disconnect between public health recommendations and the everyday reality for adolescents and their parents. Parental involvement in adolescent interventions could be helpful but needs to be done in a manner that is acceptable to both adolescents and parents. The findings of this study may be useful to inform interventions which need to consider the transitions and negotiations which are common in homes containing adolescents.

A systematic review of the influences of food store product placement on dietary-related outcomes.

CONTEXT: Product placement strategies have been used to influence customers' food purchases in food stores for some time; however, assessment of the evidence that these techniques can limit unhealthy, and promote healthy, food choices has not been completed. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aimed to determine how product placement strategies, availability, and positioning, in physical retail food stores located in high-income countries, influence dietary-related behaviors. DATA SOURCES: From a search of 9 databases, 38 articles, 17 observational studies, and 22 intervention studies met the study inclusion criteria. DATA EXTRACTION: Two reviewers independently extracted data relating to study design, study population, exposures, outcomes, and key results. Each study was also assessed for risk of bias in relation to the research question. DATA ANALYSIS: Meta-analysis was not possible owing to heterogeneous study designs and outcomes. As recommended by Cochrane, results were synthesized in effect direction plots using a vote-counting technique which recorded the direction of effect and significance level according to the expected relationship for health improvement. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of studies showed that greater availability and more prominent positioning of healthy foods, or reduced availability and less prominent positioning of unhealthy foods, related to better dietary-related behaviors. A large number of results, however, were nonsignificant, which likely reflects the methodological difficulties inherent in this research field. Adequately powered intervention studies that test both the independent and additive effects of availability and positioning strategies are needed. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO registration no. 42016048826.