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Updated: Aug 4, 2025
Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Parent involvement in child anthropometric measurement
Sarah Rae1,2, Frank Ong3, Cindy-Lee Dennis4
1Child Health Evaluative Sciences, The Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada. sarah.rae@sickkids.ca.
Insights
Parents reported high enjoyment when involved in their child's health measurements. This involvement may enhance parental satisfaction during pediatric primary healthcare visits, suggesting potential benefits for the parent-child healthcare experience.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Healthcare
- Child Health Monitoring
- Parental Engagement in Medicine
Background:
- Parents/caregivers often attend pediatric primary healthcare visits where anthropometric measurements are taken.
- Current practices typically exclude parental involvement in collecting child anthropometric data.
- There is a lack of established recommendations for parental participation during these measurements.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore and describe parents' experiences when involved in their child's anthropometric measurements.
- To understand parental perspectives on participating in child health assessments.
- To identify factors influencing parental engagement during pediatric clinical procedures.
Main Methods:
- A 10-question survey with scaled and open-ended questions was used.
- Surveys were administered to parents after their child's anthropometric measurements (length/height, weight, head, arm, waist circumference).
- Data from 60 parents (30 with children <2 years, 30 with children 2-5 years) were analyzed using thematic analysis at Canadian primary care sites.
Main Results:
- A significant majority of parents reported enjoyable experiences: 76% for children <2 years and 93% for children 2-5 years.
- Key themes identified included parental interest in child growth, perceived ease of measurement, clinic visit duration, child discomfort, and interest in research participation.
- Parents expressed positive feedback regarding their involvement in the measurement process.
Conclusions:
- Parental involvement in anthropometric measurements is highly enjoyable for parents.
- Increased parental participation could potentially enhance satisfaction with pediatric primary healthcare services.
- Further research is warranted to evaluate the reliability of measurements obtained with parental support.
Background:
Young children are often accompanied by their parent/caregiver when attending primary healthcare visits, where clinical procedures such as anthropometric measurements are conducted. Parents are not typically involved in their child's anthropometric measurement collection, and there are no recommendations for parental involvement during visits. The objective of this study was to describe parents' experiences with being involved in their child's anthropometric measurements.
Methods:
A 10-question survey comprised of scaled and open-ended questions was self-administered to participants after child anthropometric measurement collection including length/height, weight, head, arm, and waist circumference. Survey data were analyzed using a general inductive approach and thematic analysis. Surveys were collected in participating TARGet Kids! primary care practice sites in Toronto, Canada. Survey respondents included 30 parents of children < 2 years of age, and 30 parents of children 2-5 years of age.
Results:
76% of parents with children aged < 2 years and 93% of those with children aged 2-5 years rated their overall experience in being involved in their child's anthropometric measurement as enjoyable or thoroughly enjoyable. Analysis of open-ended survey questions revealed five themes: [1] parent interest in child growth; [2] ease of anthropometric measurement; [3] extended clinic visit; [4] child discomfort; and [5] interest in participating in research.
Conclusion:
Parents reported a high degree of enjoyment in being involved in their child's anthropometric measurements. Parent participation in anthropometric measurement may improve parental satisfaction with children's primary healthcare. Future research may include assessing the reliability of measurements taken with the support of a parent/caregiver.
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