Biomedical subjects

Glenda McDonald

Publications and source records attributed to Glenda McDonald.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Overweight and obese children: mothers' strategies.

AIM: This paper reports a study exploring the strategies a group of mothers of overweight and obese children were using and planned to use in the future to assist their children to achieve a healthy weight. BACKGROUND: Over the past two decades, the prevalence of childhood obesity has grown exponentially to become a major public health concern. Extant literature suggests that childhood obesity is associated with a range of physical, social and psychological effects, including poor self-esteem, depression, social isolation, and cardio-vascular and other morbidity. Parents are known to be important in determining early eating and exercise habits, and their involvement is crucial to achieving positive child health outcomes. METHODS: An exploratory-descriptive design informed by feminist research principles shaped the study, which was carried out in 2003-2004. Eleven mothers meeting the inclusion criteria took part in in-depth interviews. These were transcribed, and qualitatively analysed. FINDINGS: Participants revealed sound understandings of the concept and ramifications of obesity. They had initiated a range of strategies including role modelling, developing opportunities for increased physical activity, reducing the use of junk food, and heightened awareness of how they used food. Participants viewed the problem as a family rather than an individual problem, and aimed many of the interventions at the entire family to avoid targeting the focus child. CONCLUSIONS: Further research into how childhood obesity is managed within the context of family life is needed. Specifically, additional perspectives on how mothers from various socio-cultural groups address childhood obesity within family life, and longitudinal studies to explore the efficacy and sustainability of family-based lifestyle changes that are made in response to concerns about child weight issues. Additional research to explore the type and nature of family support that can best assist families to achieve sustainable lifestyle improvements is needed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Social work in restructuring hospitals: program management five years later.

Hospital restructuring in North America has involved re-engineering, downsizing, reorganizing, and remodeling of traditional hierarchical functional organizations into multisite programmatic conglomerates. The implications for professional disciplines have been dramatic in that departments such as social work have been dismantled and social work practice has come under the domain of program managers representing multiple disciplines. In this study 12 hospitals in Ontario, Canada, that were studied in the early stages of restructuring in 1995 expanded to 22 sites by 1999. The effect of the mergers and moves to program management on the social work profession was examined. The key findings are that social work line positions were not lost, but accountability and recruitment were no longer in the hands of the discipline. These findings suggest that it is more critical now than ever for social workers to champion their contributions to health.

Health Services Research↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Mothers' perceptions of overweight and obesity in their children.

BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity is a growing health concern and the literature implicates parents, particularly mothers. AIM: To develop understandings into the views of a group of mothers with an overweight or obese child, about their child's overweight or obesity. METHOD: A qualitative design informed by feminist insights. Eleven English speaking mothers of at least one overweight or obese child were drawn from a large urban community in metropolitan Australia to participate in this study. RESULTS: Participants attributed their child's obesity to factors such as slow metabolism, sedentary lifestyle, familial or cultural factors, genetics, eating habits such as not drinking enough water, or not chewing food adequately. Participants were very concerned about their child's weight problems and their immediate concerns focussed on social problems associated with obesity/overweight. CONCLUSION: Understanding parental views about their children's overweight and obesity is a key step in forming effective liaisons between health professionals and parents.

Adolescent↗