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Perceived barriers to achieving a healthy weight: a qualitative study using focus groups at public and private schools in Guatemala City

BACKGROUND: Overweight prevalence among Guatemalan girls is higher in public than in private schools. Little is known about adolescent girls’ perceptions of the right ways to achieve a healthy weight. This study examines public and private school adolescent girls’ perceptions of a “healthy weight,”...

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Autores principales: Madrigal, Luisa, Adams, Inez, Chacon, Violeta, Barnoya, Joaquin
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5217558/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28056912
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3978-9
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author Madrigal, Luisa
Adams, Inez
Chacon, Violeta
Barnoya, Joaquin
author_facet Madrigal, Luisa
Adams, Inez
Chacon, Violeta
Barnoya, Joaquin
author_sort Madrigal, Luisa
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Overweight prevalence among Guatemalan girls is higher in public than in private schools. Little is known about adolescent girls’ perceptions of the right ways to achieve a healthy weight. This study examines public and private school adolescent girls’ perceptions of a “healthy weight,” and barriers and facilitators to achieving it. METHODS: We conducted 4 focus groups in public and private schools in Guatemala City with girls from 13 to 15 years old. The discussion guide included open-ended questions and activities aimed at examining perceptions of “healthy weight” and barriers and motivators to achieving it within the school environment. Focus groups were audio-recorded and transcribed. Data analyses followed established methods of content analysis. RESULTS: Twenty-eight girls (private school, n = 12; public school, n = 16) of ages ranging from 13.1 to 15.9 years (median, 14, IQR, 13.6–14.9) participated in the study. Girls identified images of thin and fit women as healthy. They cited healthy eating and physical activity as ways to achieve a healthy weight. Within the school environment, barriers to maintaining a healthy weight included a lack of healthy food options and the prioritization of sports for boys over girls. In public schools, facilities were less than optimal; in private schools, girls’ access to facilities was limited. Public school girls stated that their uniforms were inappropriate for exercising. CONCLUSION: Our findings support the need to provide more healthy food options in Guatemalan schools. In addition, physical activity for girls should be promoted and facilities made available for their use.
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spelling pubmed-52175582017-01-09 Perceived barriers to achieving a healthy weight: a qualitative study using focus groups at public and private schools in Guatemala City Madrigal, Luisa Adams, Inez Chacon, Violeta Barnoya, Joaquin BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: Overweight prevalence among Guatemalan girls is higher in public than in private schools. Little is known about adolescent girls’ perceptions of the right ways to achieve a healthy weight. This study examines public and private school adolescent girls’ perceptions of a “healthy weight,” and barriers and facilitators to achieving it. METHODS: We conducted 4 focus groups in public and private schools in Guatemala City with girls from 13 to 15 years old. The discussion guide included open-ended questions and activities aimed at examining perceptions of “healthy weight” and barriers and motivators to achieving it within the school environment. Focus groups were audio-recorded and transcribed. Data analyses followed established methods of content analysis. RESULTS: Twenty-eight girls (private school, n = 12; public school, n = 16) of ages ranging from 13.1 to 15.9 years (median, 14, IQR, 13.6–14.9) participated in the study. Girls identified images of thin and fit women as healthy. They cited healthy eating and physical activity as ways to achieve a healthy weight. Within the school environment, barriers to maintaining a healthy weight included a lack of healthy food options and the prioritization of sports for boys over girls. In public schools, facilities were less than optimal; in private schools, girls’ access to facilities was limited. Public school girls stated that their uniforms were inappropriate for exercising. CONCLUSION: Our findings support the need to provide more healthy food options in Guatemalan schools. In addition, physical activity for girls should be promoted and facilities made available for their use. BioMed Central 2017-01-05 /pmc/articles/PMC5217558/ /pubmed/28056912 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3978-9 Text en © The Author(s). 2017 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Madrigal, Luisa
Adams, Inez
Chacon, Violeta
Barnoya, Joaquin
Perceived barriers to achieving a healthy weight: a qualitative study using focus groups at public and private schools in Guatemala City
title Perceived barriers to achieving a healthy weight: a qualitative study using focus groups at public and private schools in Guatemala City
title_full Perceived barriers to achieving a healthy weight: a qualitative study using focus groups at public and private schools in Guatemala City
title_fullStr Perceived barriers to achieving a healthy weight: a qualitative study using focus groups at public and private schools in Guatemala City
title_full_unstemmed Perceived barriers to achieving a healthy weight: a qualitative study using focus groups at public and private schools in Guatemala City
title_short Perceived barriers to achieving a healthy weight: a qualitative study using focus groups at public and private schools in Guatemala City
title_sort perceived barriers to achieving a healthy weight: a qualitative study using focus groups at public and private schools in guatemala city
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5217558/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28056912
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3978-9
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