Browsing by Author "Cook, Erica Jane"

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    Parents’ experiences of complementary feeding among a United Kingdom culturally diverse and deprived community
    (Wiley, 2020-11-09) Cook, Erica Jane; Powell, Faye Caroline; Ali, Nasreen; Penn-Jones, Catrin; Ochieng, B.; Randhawa, Gurch
    Complementary feeding practices and adherence to health recommendations are influenced by a range of different and often interrelating factors such as socio- economic and cultural factors. However, the factors underlying these associations are often complex with less awareness of how complementary feeding approaches vary across the UK’s diverse population. This paper describes a qualitative investiga- tion undertaken in a deprived and culturally diverse community in the UK which aimed to explore parents’ knowledge, beliefs and practices of complementary feed- ing. One hundred and ten mothers and fathers, self-identified as being White British, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black African/Caribbean or Polish took part in twenty-four focus group discussions, organised by age group, sex and ethnicity. The findings revealed that most parents initiated complementary feeding before the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation of 6 months. Early initiation was strongly influenced by breast feeding practices alongside the extent to which parents believed that their usual milk; that is, breastmilk or formula was fulfilling their infants' nutritional needs. The composition of diet and parents' approach to complementary feeding was closely aligned to traditional cultural practices; however, some contradic- tions were noted. The findings also acknowledge the pertinent role of the father in influencing the dietary practices of the wider household. Learning about both the common and unique cultural feeding attitudes and practices held by parents may help us to tailor healthy complementary feeding advice in the context of increasing diver- sity in the United Kingdom.
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    ‘They are kids, let them eat’: A qualitative investigation into the parental beliefs and practices of providing a healthy diet for young children among a culturally diverse and deprived population in the UK
    (MDPI, 2021-12-11) Cook, Erica Jane; Powell, Faye; Ali, Nasreen; Penn-Jones, Catrin; Ochieng, B.; Constantinou, Georgina; Randhawa, Gurch
    In the UK ethnic minority children are at greater risk of obesity and weight-related ill health compared to the wider national population with the factors that influence the provision of a healthy diet among these populations less understood. An interpretive qualitative study com-prised of 24 single sex semi-structured focus groups was conducted with 110 parents (63 mothers and 47 fathers) of young children (aged 0-5). Participants were recruited from deprived and ethnically diverse wards in Luton, UK and self-identified as being white British, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, black African and Caribbean or Polish. The findings highlighted a wide range of inter-relating psychological and socio-cultural factors that inform and underpin parental beliefs and practices relating to providing children a healthy diet. Parents whilst aware of the im-portance of providing children a healthy diet; challenges, particularly among mothers surround-ing lack of time and balancing competing responsibilities were clear barriers to providing a healthy diet to children. Access, affordability of healthy food alongside the over exposure of cheap convenient and unhealthy processed foods made it increasingly difficult for parents to pro-vide a healthy diet to their growing families. Household food practices were also found to be situated within the wider context of socio-cultural and religious norms around cooking and eat-ing with cultural identity and upbringing.