Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 23, 2026

A Treatment Package without Escape Extinction to Address Food Selectivity
Published on: August 21, 2015
Persistent optimizing: how mothers make food choices for their preschool children
Audrey Walsh1, Donna Meagher-Stewart2, Marilyn Macdonald2
1Cape Breton University, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada audrey_walsh@cbu.ca.
Abstract:
Mothers' ability to provide healthy food choices for their children has become more complex in our current obesogenic environment. We conducted a total of 35 interviews with 18 mothers of preschool children. Using constructivist grounded theory methods, we developed a substantive theory of how mothers make food choices for their preschoolers. Our substantive theory, persistent optimizing, consists of three main integrated conceptual categories: (a) acknowledging contextual constraints, (b) stretching boundaries, and (c) strategic positioning. Implications to improve mothers' ability to make healthy food choices that reduce their children's risk of becoming overweight or obese are discussed.
Related Concept Videos
Optimal Foraging
Parentral Nutrition: Centeral and Peripheral Parental Nutrition
PN can be administered through two primary routes:
1. Central Parenteral Nutrition (CPN):
CPN involves delivering a high concentration of nutrients through a large vein. This is typically achieved using a Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter (PICC) or,...
Regulation of Food Intake
Methods of Medium Optimization
Self-Discrepancy Theory
Self-Regulation

