An insight into parent Involvement in Scottish Primary School Health Education activities

Abstract

Introduction: Childhood overweight and obesity is prevalent worldwide with Scottish children amongst the least active in the world. School-based physical activity interventions involving parents have found success, however limited research exists regarding the best methods to involve parents in these interventions. Socioeconomic status has been found to mediate parent involvement. Therefore, the aim of this study was to interview parents from a low socioeconomic status (SES) to gains insights into their involvement in school-based health activities.

Methods: Parents (n = 132) were recruited from five schools. Parents (n = 24) were identified based on the following criteria; being the mother of the child, from a Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation decile 1 or 2 and scoring low on the Family Involvement Questionnaire- Elementary. Parents (n = 16) agreed to be interviewed. An inductive approach to hierarchical analysis was employed.

Results: From the transcripts, 130 first-, 16 second-, and 6 third-order themes emerged. Whilst the influence of children and family can encourage parents to be involved in school-based activities, there are several barriers which result in them being less-involved. The importance of home-school relationships, and the efforts parents and schools play in encouraging parent involvement was evident.

Discussion: It is clear that parents of low SES are less-involved in school-based activities. Barriers to their involvement include lack of confidence and additional responsibilities. Our findings indicate that many of these barriers can be overcome based on the recommendations within this study which can help inform future school-based interventions.