Evaluating the effectiveness of a parent programme focusing on parental feeding styles as part of a childhood obesity intervention

Background: A child and young people’s weight management service, developed a parent intervention which uses psychological theory to modify parental feeding practices which are known to have an impact on children’s weight status.

Aims: The first aim of this service evaluation was to assess the effectiveness of the parent intervention programme on improving parental feeding behaviours of children who are overweight or obese. The second aim was to explore if mode of delivery affected outcomes.

Methods: Secondary data analysis using data collected from 75 parents/carers between September 2020 – March 2023 as part of the service’s monitoring and intervention evaluation. Paired t-tests compared pre and post scores on the Parental Feeding Style Questionnaire (PFQ). An independent Samples t-test analysed the effect of mode of delivery, comparing scores between group and individual intervention delivery.

Findings: Significant changes were found for three PFQ sub-scales: encouragement, t(74) = 2.92, p = .005, d = 0.33; instrumental feeding, t(74) = 2.93, p = .004, d = 0.36; emotional feeding scores, t(74) = 4.17, p < .001, d = 0.46 from baseline to post parental intervention. No statically significant differences were found for the parental control over eating sub-scale. The mode of delivery was not found to impact the effectiveness of the intervention.

Conclusion: The parent programme was associated with significant improvements in several parental feeding practices, suggesting that the parent intervention is an effective intervention for educating and supporting parents of children who are overweight or obese