Peer-reviewed article
"Sometimes it's the bullying": an exploratory qualitative study of church leaders' perceptions of dietary health of black American children and youth.
Laura O Howard, Penny A Ralston ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This qualitative study explored how church leaders in North Florida perceive the dietary health of Black American children and youth. The researchers conducted a focus group with eight participants (five adults and three youth) to understand barriers and motivators related to child nutrition. Key findings included that dietary habits are learned from family, bullying affects children's health, parental involvement is challenging, and churches could run programs to improve children's diet. Church leaders were generally positive about creating nutrition initiatives within their communities.
Key points
- Dietary behaviors are learned through family commitment and habits, influenced by family history
- Bullying was identified as a challenging factor affecting children's dietary health
- Lack of parental involvement and inconsistency in healthy practices are barriers
- Role models serve as motivating factors for children's dietary choices
- Church leaders expressed enthusiasm for implementing dietary health programs and practices
Limitations
This is a small exploratory study with only eight participants from one church in North Florida, so findings may not generalize to other Black American communities or church settings. The study captures perceptions of church leaders and youth but does not measure actual dietary outcomes or test whether interventions would be effective.
Abstract
PURPOSE: Childhood obesity rates continue to increase, especially for Black Americans. Few church-based health interventions have focused on children and youth. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to determine church leaders' perceptions of the dietary health of children and youth. METHOD: As a follow-up study to the Health for Hearts United Dissemination Trial, a focus group was conducted with one of the participating churches in North Florida that had identified child dietary health as a priority. Five adults and three youth (n = 8) participated, guided by four questions. The focus group was recorded, transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Three major categories, five themes and six subthemes were identified. The categories included cultural background, motivators and barriers, and potential dietary initiatives. Themes and subthemes included learned behaviour (commitment and habits), family history, motivating factors (role models), challenging factors (parent involvement, bullying, consistency), and interventions (programs and practices). CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that improving the health of children within the church context is complex. The participants identified several barriers, but also identified motivating factors and were enthusiastic about possible church programs and practices to improve the dietary health of children.