The health role of Saudi family in Riyadh toward their children

The family is a well-known potential contributor to the health status of an individual from the earliest age. The influence of family and parents comes from their significant role in different aspects of children's lives, including eating behavior, physical activity, mental health, and health status. This study aims to assess the health role of Saudi parents living in Riyadh in their health role in shaping nutritional, social, and psychological factors of their kids.

Cross-sectional questionnaire-based study.

Community-based study.

Saudi families living in Riyadh who have children aged 2-12 years.

Awareness level of Saudi parents about their health role toward dietary habits and nutritional practices, physical activity and sedentary lifestyle, providing mental health and emotional support, and providing socioeconomic factors and access to health services.

Quantitative parameters were represented using number and frequency. Correlations were performed by different variables using a t-test or Chi-square test based on the type of data; a P value of ≤0.05 was significant. The last updated version of SPSS software was used for analysis.

In this study, 542 parents were included, where 52.4% and 53.3% strongly agreed about children's consumption of a balanced diet and restricting their intake of sugary food, respectively. 53.9% of parents strongly agree to encourage their children to participate in sports, and 56.3% strongly agree to actively generate a comfortable environment for their children. Also, 63.1% strongly agreed with regular health check-ups and vaccination of children regularly.

Parents in Riyadh have good awareness regarding their health roles toward their children, and they commonly have positive health roles toward their children's health and behavior.

This study shows that there is a high level of awareness among Saudi parents regarding their role in shaping their children's health, but there are several areas that require further attention. Future research should focus on addressing the discrepancies between knowledge and behavior, and the broader cultural and socioeconomic context should be kept in mind to optimize child health outcomes.