Abstract
The purpose of the study was to conduct in-depth qualitative interviews to understand the lived experiences of African American parents of overweight adolescents who had previously participated in a family-based weight loss program and to utilize these insights to inform the essential elements of the LEADS trial, an integrated resilience stress management and health promotion intervention. Participants (N = 30) were African American parents and/or caregivers (96.7% female; Mage = 49.73, SD = 10.88; MBMI = 37.63, SD = 8.21) of adolescents with overweight and/or obesity. Interviews were transcribed and coded using inductive and deductive approaches for themes by two independent coders. Inter-rater reliability was acceptable (r = 0.70–0.80) and discrepancies were resolved to 100% agreement. Prominent stress themes included caregiver responsibilities, work, interpersonal family conflict, and physical and emotional consequences of chronic stress. Participants also noted decreases in physical activity and poor food choices due to stress. Coping mechanisms included prayer/meditation, church social support, and talking with family/partner. Results highlight the importance of mitigating stress among African American parents through stress management and cultural/familial resilience approaches to increase the likelihood of engagement in behavioral strategies in health promotion programs. Future studies should assess the utility of incorporating stress management components and health promotion techniques to improve health outcomes among African American families.
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The datasets during and/or analyzed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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This research was funded by a grant (R01 HD072153) funded by the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development to Dawn K. Wilson, Ph.D., Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01796067. Registered 23 January 2013. The research was also supported by the Society for Community Research and Action Student Thesis Award to Colby Kipp and by a General Medical Science grant (T32 GM08740) to Mary Quattlebaum, Asia Brown, and Haylee Loncar. Dr. Demetrius Abshire was supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health under award number K23MD013899.
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Conceptualization, CK, DKW, AB, MQ, HL, AS, DA; Methodology, CK, DKW, MQ; Software, CK, MQ; Formal analysis, CK, AB, MQ, HL, AS, DA; Investigation, CK, MQ, AS, HL, AB DA; Resources, CK, DKW; Data Curation, CK, AB, MQ, HL; Writing—original draft preparation, CK, MQ, DKW, AB, HL, AS, DA; Writing—review and editing, CK, DKW, AB, MQ, HL, AS, D.A; Supervision, DKW., AS; Project administration, CK, DKW; Funding acquisition, DKW, CK., MQ, HL, AB All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
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Kipp, C., Wilson, D.K., Brown, A. et al. Compounding effects of stress on diet, physical activity, and wellbeing among African American parents: a qualitative study to inform the LEADS health promotion trial. J Behav Med (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-024-00477-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-024-00477-3