• Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • Massey Documents by Type
    • Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • Massey Documents by Type
    • Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    "Tubby, like a marshmallow" : the lived experiences of children and their parents as participants in a child weight management programme : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Health Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand

    Icon
    View/Open Full Text
    01_front.pdf (181.9Kb)
    02_whole.pdf (1.112Mb)
    Export to EndNote
    Abstract
    Global concern regarding the ‘obesity epidemic’ has focused increasingly on children, resulting in numerous child weight management programmes around the Western world. The reality of this ‘epidemic’ is controversial, with large bodies of literature presenting arguments both for and against an urgent need for intervention. Between each side is little common ground, making a cohesive analysis of the extent of the obesity reality difficult. Additionally, there is a paucity of studies that include participants’ experiences. The present study adopted a critical realist ontology in an attempt to bridge the divide between the realist/positivist and relativist/constructionist camps. Further, it aimed to give voice to parents and children through a two-phase exploration of their lived experiences as participants in bodywise, a child weight management programme, based in the Waikato, Aotearoa/New Zealand. In phase one, seven focus groups were undertaken with 22 participants whose children had been part of the bodywise programme, to explore their views on the programme. In phase two, individual interviews were undertaken with three children aged 11 to 16 to explore their experiences of being bodywise. Groups and interviews were audio taped and transcribed verbatim. All data were analysed under an interpretative phenomenological framework (IPA), which provided three superordinate themes, namely sites of struggle, sites of support and sites of success. A key finding was the contrast between the programme’s sole measure of success (the child’s reduced or maintained BMI), and the wide range of successes experienced by participants. The children described success as that which was fun and enjoyable, in contrast to previous studies that found little relationship for children between health behaviours and pleasure. Overall, bodywise was a positive experience for participants regardless of improvements in the child’s BMI. The key metaphor of the experience of bodywise as “special journey” by waka [canoe] was developed from the parents’ talk, and this metaphor is posited as an ideal way to integrate the bodywise experience for all participants. Future research could develop a model based on the waka metaphor model, with an emphasis on fun, enjoyment and active engagement for participants of child weight management programmes.
    Date
    2014
    Author
    Trezona, Catherine
    Rights
    The Author
    Publisher
    Massey University
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10179/5910
    Collections
    • Theses and Dissertations
    Metadata
    Show full item record

    Copyright © Massey University
    | Contact Us | Feedback | Copyright Take Down Request | Massey University Privacy Statement
    DSpace software copyright © Duraspace
    v5.7-2020.1-beta1
     

     

    Tweets by @Massey_Research
    Information PagesContent PolicyDepositing content to MROCopyright and Access InformationDeposit LicenseDeposit License SummaryTheses FAQFile FormatsDoctoral Thesis Deposit

    Browse

    All of MROCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Copyright © Massey University
    | Contact Us | Feedback | Copyright Take Down Request | Massey University Privacy Statement
    DSpace software copyright © Duraspace
    v5.7-2020.1-beta1