The Meaning of Weight: A Big Way of Life for Rural Mexican-American Adolescent Men and Caregivers.
Jennifer L Collins, Donna C Owen, Jane Dimmitt Champion
PMID 27079291WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescent boys and family members explained weight by family size, father's body, diabetes or heart disease history, food and exercise talk, judgment, and limited money or time.
They used 'big' and 'solid' when describing size.
Key findings
01Participants described body weight through a cultural script involving family size and disease history, food reduction and exercise, judgment, and resource limitations.
02Knowing one's weight included knowing family size, likeness to one's father, and potential to inherit family disease history.
03Limited food sources, time, money, food purchases, and food preparation were described as constraints on weight-related choices.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Participants were recruited only from adolescents accessing primary care at a rural clinic, so families without that access were not represented. Convenience sampling from a border community limits how far the themes apply to other rural Mexican-American communities. Height and weight were self-reported because health records were not accessed, so weight categories may be inaccurate. No member checks were used; coding was checked with an investigator who had worked as a nurse practitioner in the clinic. Spanish-speaking-only participants were excluded. The analysed sample was small, with 14 male adolescents and 13 influential persons.
Declared interests
The authors report no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as proof that a weight programme works or that all rural Mexican-American families think the same way. The study interviewed a small convenience sample from a clinic and reports perceptions, not outcomes.