Parent involvement in child anthropometric measurement.

Publisher: BioMed Central Ltd Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 9918300889006676 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2731-4553 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 27314553 NLM ISO Abbreviation: BMC Prim Care Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: [London] : BioMed Central Ltd., [2022]-

Parents* ; Parent-Child Relations*; Humans ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Adult ; Reproducibility of Results ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Caregivers

Background: Young children are often accompanied by their parent/caregiver when attending primary healthcare visits, where clinical procedures such as anthropometric measurements are conducted. Parents are not typically involved in their child's anthropometric measurement collection, and there are no recommendations for parental involvement during visits. The objective of this study was to describe parents' experiences with being involved in their child's anthropometric measurements.
Methods: A 10-question survey comprised of scaled and open-ended questions was self-administered to participants after child anthropometric measurement collection including length/height, weight, head, arm, and waist circumference. Survey data were analyzed using a general inductive approach and thematic analysis. Surveys were collected in participating TARGet Kids! primary care practice sites in Toronto, Canada. Survey respondents included 30 parents of children < 2 years of age, and 30 parents of children 2-5 years of age.
Results: 76% of parents with children aged < 2 years and 93% of those with children aged 2-5 years rated their overall experience in being involved in their child's anthropometric measurement as enjoyable or thoroughly enjoyable. Analysis of open-ended survey questions revealed five themes: [1] parent interest in child growth; [2] ease of anthropometric measurement; [3] extended clinic visit; [4] child discomfort; and [5] interest in participating in research.
Conclusion: Parents reported a high degree of enjoyment in being involved in their child's anthropometric measurements. Parent participation in anthropometric measurement may improve parental satisfaction with children's primary healthcare. Future research may include assessing the reliability of measurements taken with the support of a parent/caregiver.
(© 2023. The Author(s).)

Child Care Health Dev. 2005 Mar;31(2):233-43. (PMID: 15715702)
Pain. 1989 Apr;37(1):85-92. (PMID: 2726280)
Intensive Crit Care Nurs. 2011 Jun;27(3):143-50. (PMID: 21511474)
Can J Diet Pract Res. 2010 Spring;71(1):e1-3. (PMID: 21815309)
Int J Epidemiol. 2015 Jun;44(3):776-88. (PMID: 24982016)
Qual Quant. 2018;52(4):1893-1907. (PMID: 29937585)
J Burn Care Rehabil. 1993 Jan-Feb;14(1):104-7. (PMID: 8454655)

Keywords: Anthropometric measurement; Child Health; Clinical Research; Early childhood obesity; Mixed methods; Parent participation; Parent perspective; Primary care; Qualitative research

Date Created: 20230404 Date Completed: 20230406 Latest Revision: 20230411

20240105

PMC10073622

10.1186/s12875-023-02028-2

37016320