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A qualitative study of healthy eating, physical activity, and mental health among single mothers in Canada
Single motherhood is associated with higher demands in home and family responsibilities that may exist in similar sized households with grandparents. These demands can compete with opportunities and resources for maintenance of healthy behaviours. This may have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 p...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10681166/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38011205 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294552 |
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author | Pino Gavidia, Lisbeth A. MacDermid, Joy C. Brunton, Laura Doralp, Samantha |
author_facet | Pino Gavidia, Lisbeth A. MacDermid, Joy C. Brunton, Laura Doralp, Samantha |
author_sort | Pino Gavidia, Lisbeth A. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Single motherhood is associated with higher demands in home and family responsibilities that may exist in similar sized households with grandparents. These demands can compete with opportunities and resources for maintenance of healthy behaviours. This may have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic since supports outside the home may have been restricted by public health measures. A qualitative narrative study was conducted to explore these issues with 12 single mothers in Canada. Semi-structured interviews provided an in-depth understanding of the challenges and facilitators to maintaining healthy eating habits, physical activity levels, and mental health. Theory-driven content and structural analysis were applied through a descriptive thematic approach. Challenges to maintaining healthy eating behaviours included stay-at-home orders, limited budget, unhealthy food/cravings, and lack of motivation. In contrast, living with grandparents who provide help or having an understanding of healthy food were factors that facilitated engagement in healthy eating. Challenges to maintaining physical activity levels included lack of willpower, lack of time, and low energy. Whereas time on one’s own, weighing scales or outdoor gear, and weather conditions promoted physical activity. Spirituality and gratitude were the main coping mechanisms used to deal with loneliness, unemployment, and depressive symptoms. Further research into the utility of gratitude as a coping mechanism could inform public health interventions that aim to increase levels of well-being among single mothers. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10681166 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-106811662023-11-27 A qualitative study of healthy eating, physical activity, and mental health among single mothers in Canada Pino Gavidia, Lisbeth A. MacDermid, Joy C. Brunton, Laura Doralp, Samantha PLoS One Research Article Single motherhood is associated with higher demands in home and family responsibilities that may exist in similar sized households with grandparents. These demands can compete with opportunities and resources for maintenance of healthy behaviours. This may have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic since supports outside the home may have been restricted by public health measures. A qualitative narrative study was conducted to explore these issues with 12 single mothers in Canada. Semi-structured interviews provided an in-depth understanding of the challenges and facilitators to maintaining healthy eating habits, physical activity levels, and mental health. Theory-driven content and structural analysis were applied through a descriptive thematic approach. Challenges to maintaining healthy eating behaviours included stay-at-home orders, limited budget, unhealthy food/cravings, and lack of motivation. In contrast, living with grandparents who provide help or having an understanding of healthy food were factors that facilitated engagement in healthy eating. Challenges to maintaining physical activity levels included lack of willpower, lack of time, and low energy. Whereas time on one’s own, weighing scales or outdoor gear, and weather conditions promoted physical activity. Spirituality and gratitude were the main coping mechanisms used to deal with loneliness, unemployment, and depressive symptoms. Further research into the utility of gratitude as a coping mechanism could inform public health interventions that aim to increase levels of well-being among single mothers. Public Library of Science 2023-11-27 /pmc/articles/PMC10681166/ /pubmed/38011205 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294552 Text en © 2023 Pino Gavidia et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Pino Gavidia, Lisbeth A. MacDermid, Joy C. Brunton, Laura Doralp, Samantha A qualitative study of healthy eating, physical activity, and mental health among single mothers in Canada |
title | A qualitative study of healthy eating, physical activity, and mental health among single mothers in Canada |
title_full | A qualitative study of healthy eating, physical activity, and mental health among single mothers in Canada |
title_fullStr | A qualitative study of healthy eating, physical activity, and mental health among single mothers in Canada |
title_full_unstemmed | A qualitative study of healthy eating, physical activity, and mental health among single mothers in Canada |
title_short | A qualitative study of healthy eating, physical activity, and mental health among single mothers in Canada |
title_sort | qualitative study of healthy eating, physical activity, and mental health among single mothers in canada |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10681166/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38011205 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294552 |
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