Parents and School Children Talking about Food and Drink Choices – A Focus Group Study

We explored parents’ and schoolchildren’s views on sugary food and drink, and theirperspectives on barriers and facilitators bringing about dietary change. Methods: Focus groupswere conducted in 5 schools in Malta. Results: In total, 23 parents and 28 children took part.Children’s themes included personal factors, influencers and barriers to healthy eating, rules,and suggestions for change. For parents, personal perspectives, control, the school’s role, widerinfluences, and intervention suggestion themes emerged. Parents expected schools to takea lead role whilst children saw parents as key influencers. Conclusions: The study highlightedchallenges in parental roles and children’s attitudes to consider for improving dietary behaviorin pre-adolescent schoolchildren.