Engaging Latino fathers in children's eating and other obesity-related behaviors: A review

Authors: O'CONNOR, TERESIA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC); PEREZ, ORIANA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC); COLON GARCIA, ISABEL - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC); GALLAGHER, MARTINA - University Of Texas Health Science Center

Submitted to: Current Nutrition Reports
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/3/2018
Publication Date: 5/9/2018
Citation: O'Connor, T., Perez, O., Colon Garcia, I., Gallagher, M. 2018. Engaging Latino fathers in children's eating and other obesity-related behaviors: A review. Current Nutrition Reports. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13668-018-0225-2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13668-018-0225-2

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: There is a growing evidence of the important role that fathers play in influencing their children's eating and other weight-related behaviors. Latino children are at high risk for obesity and associated medical conditions. Engaging Latino fathers is a potentially important and unique way to help promote healthy lifestyles for Latino children, but doing so requires a culturally sensitive understanding both of fathers' current role and the family perceptions of this role. Here, we review recent data and argue that there are subtle but important differences between the qualitative and quantitative research conducted regarding the role Latino fathers may play in promoting healthy eating and physical activity for their children. We suggest how to synthesize these findings and also present qualitative results for ways to best engage Latino fathers in research studies with a focus on physical activity. Results from the review support that Latino fathers are important potential targets for child obesity prevention, but our findings stress the importance of considering cultural values when trying to recruit, engage and retain Latino fathers for such research.