TY - JOUR
T1 - Foster Parents’ Nutritional Strategies and Children’s Well-Being
AU - Helton, Jesse J.
AU - Schreiber, Jill C.
AU - Fiese, Barbara H.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York.
Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2017/4/1
Y1 - 2017/4/1
N2 - Among their many responsibilities, foster parents are tasked with providing healthy food and proper nutrition to children with a variety of physical, psychological, and emotional needs. Using the lens of symbolic interactionism, this exploratory mixed methods study examined how foster parents attend to the nutritional needs of abused and neglected children. Methods used included both quantitative surveys and qualitative follow-up interviews. Surveys were completed by 23 foster parents in a large, Midwest metropolitan area. Parents reported they provided their children balanced meals, although one-third of households reported instances of food insecurity. During qualitative interviews, foster parents (N = 9) described how children arrived at their home with a variety of unhealthy eating habits, some severe in nature. Parents discussed strategies used to modify and improve eating patterns, including offering healthy food choices, having children plan meals, and gathering as a family for daily dinners. In general, parents understood the link between unhealthy eating and past childhood trauma, but also reported being unprepared for more serious eating problems like hoarding. Findings indicate that foster parents need food assistance to increase food security as well as training in assessing and responding a variety of unhealthy child eating behaviors.
AB - Among their many responsibilities, foster parents are tasked with providing healthy food and proper nutrition to children with a variety of physical, psychological, and emotional needs. Using the lens of symbolic interactionism, this exploratory mixed methods study examined how foster parents attend to the nutritional needs of abused and neglected children. Methods used included both quantitative surveys and qualitative follow-up interviews. Surveys were completed by 23 foster parents in a large, Midwest metropolitan area. Parents reported they provided their children balanced meals, although one-third of households reported instances of food insecurity. During qualitative interviews, foster parents (N = 9) described how children arrived at their home with a variety of unhealthy eating habits, some severe in nature. Parents discussed strategies used to modify and improve eating patterns, including offering healthy food choices, having children plan meals, and gathering as a family for daily dinners. In general, parents understood the link between unhealthy eating and past childhood trauma, but also reported being unprepared for more serious eating problems like hoarding. Findings indicate that foster parents need food assistance to increase food security as well as training in assessing and responding a variety of unhealthy child eating behaviors.
KW - Child wellbeing
KW - Foster care
KW - Mixed-methods
KW - Nutrition
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U2 - 10.1007/s10560-016-0454-4
DO - 10.1007/s10560-016-0454-4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84981510453
VL - 34
SP - 159
EP - 169
JO - Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal
JF - Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal
SN - 0738-0151
IS - 2
ER -