Caregiver perceptions of child diet status: What influenced their judgement
Abstract Background: Caregiver perceptions of child diet status can influence the effect of health intervention, but research focused on the correctness of caregiver's perception is limited. This study aimed to figure out the correctness of caregiver's perception of their child's diet status and find out the factors which may influence their judgement.Methods: 815 children from grade 3rd to 6th and their caregivers were recruited from two primary schools by cluster sampling. 3-day 24-hour recall was used to record children’s diet, caregiver’s perceptions was obtained through questionnaires. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to explore the influencing factors of the correctness of caregiver’s perception.Results: Among the 597 children with “balanced” diet, 62.1% were correctly perceived as having a “healthy” diet by their caregivers; but for the 218 children with “imbalanced” diet, just 16.1% were correctly identified. Those who were correctly identified as having an unhealthy diet consumed less fruits and more snacks than those unidentified (p<0.05). Obese children were more likely to be perceived as having unhealthy diet even when they actually had a balanced diet (OR=0.305, p=0.016). Caregivers with high educational level were more likely to correctly perceive children’s healthy diet status (OR=3.628, p=0.038).Conclusions: Caregivers were generally lack of the ability to identify children's unhealthy diet. Obesity, significantly low consumption of fruits or high consumption of snacks can raise caregivers’ awareness. Extensive health education targeting caregivers is in emergency.