Children’s Perceived Barriers to a Healthy Diet: The Influence of Child and Community-Related Factors

Abstract

A healthy diet influences the promotion and maintenance of health throughout an individual’s life. Many individuals struggle to have a healthy diet, despite it being mainly under their control. The current study aims to explore children’s perceived barriers to a healthy diet. A qualitative study with the open-ended question, “Please identify the top 5 barriers to a healthy diet”, was undertaken between January–June 2019 in which 274 students from the 5–6th grades wrote down their answers to the open-ended question. Content analysis was used to analyze responses with a codebook based on the Six C’s Model. Five categories were identified: Child, Clan, Community, Country, and Culture-related barriers. Findings showed that the barriers most highlighted were in the Child sphere (e.g., dietary intake) and the Community sphere (e.g., peer food choices). Children seldom referred to barriers from the Clan sphere, i.e., related to family (e.g., food available at home). Additionally, it seems that girls emphasize more barriers from the Child sphere, while boys emphasize more barriers from the Community sphere. Due to the qualitative nature of this study, interpretation of the data should take into account the specific characteristics and context of the sample. Nevertheless, the current data are helpful in identifying implications for practice, for example, the need to empower children with tools (e.g., self-regulation-based interventions) likely to help them overcome perceived barriers. Finally, advocacy groups may help set environmental and structural changes in the community likely to facilitate children’s healthy choices.