Parental perspectives of the barriers to sustaining Health Behaviour Change for their child living with overweight or obesity – A Grounded Theory study.

Background: Children living with overweight or obesity are at greater risk of physical and psychological co-morbidities. Parents are seen as agents of change and are influential in making health behaviour changes (HBC) on behalf of their children. Despite efforts to ad-dress childhood obesity through family-based interventions for weight management, and public health awareness campaigns, the prevalence of childhood obesity continues to rise. Research indicates that parents encounter barriers to implementing HBC on behalf of their children, and there is limited research exploring parents’ experiences of sustaining these changes. Aim: This study aimed to develop a theoretical understanding of the barriers parents face when sustaining HBC. Developing a theoretical understanding would add to our existing knowledge of the difficulties parents face when implementing healthy changes on behalf of their child. The findings of the study can provide valuable insights to inform clinical policy and practice, as well as identify areas that require further research in the field. Method: Data collection and analysis were guided by Charmaz’s constructivist Grounded Theory approach. Parents (n=13) were recruited via social media and family WMPs and were interviewed over zoom or telephone. Findings: This grounded theory research theorises that parental guilt, blame and emotional dysregulation are central to the experiences of parents when encountering barriers to sustain-ing HBC for their child. The emergent theory comprises four categories and 11 sub-categories that were constructed from the data. Conclusions: The barriers identified by parents need to be considered in services and be un-derstood by policymakers to support families in enabling HBC.