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Updated: Sep 8, 2025

Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
Published on: September 19, 2019
Changes in perceived parental self-efficacy after a Child-Centred Health Dialogue about preventing obesity
Mariette Derwig1, Irén Tiberg1, Jonas Björk2
1Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Aim:
This randomised controlled trial evaluated changes in parental self-efficacy and children's weight, after a Child-Centred Health Dialogue about preventing obesity.
Methods:
We randomly assigned 37 Child Health Centres in Skåne county Sweden to provide usual care or the dialogue intervention. They included centres from high and low socioeconomic areas. The outcomes were changes in parental self-efficacy and any moderating effect on their children's body mass index 1 year later.
Results:
The baseline data were based on 1115 mothers and 869 fathers representing 1197 children (52% females) aged 4 years (3.9-4.2) with a standardised body mass index (zBMI) of 0.1 ± 0.9. The participation rates at follow-up, 1.1 ± 0.2 years after the intervention were 817 mothers and 508 fathers. Overall, parental self-efficacy had decreased by the 1-year follow-up. There was a significant intervention effect on maternal self-efficacy in promoting physical activity, however with unclear clinical relevance. Mothers' change in perceived self-efficacy in promoting a healthy diet seemed to moderate the intervention effect on zBMI change in children with zBMI > 0 with -0.01 (95% CI: -0.025 to -0.001; p = 0.03).
Conclusion:
Our study suggested a possible link between increased maternal self-efficacy in promoting a healthy diet and a favourable development of zBMI.
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