DOI: 10.2337/dc07-1214
Accuracy of Perceptions of Overweight and Relation to Self-Care Behaviors Among Adolescents with Type 2 Diabetes and Their Parents
1Health Policy and Administration, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ABSTRACT Objective: Examine how adolescents with type 2 diabetes and their parents/primary caregivers perceive the adolescent's weight and the relationship of those perceptions to diet and exercise behaviors and perceived barriers to healthy behaviors. Research Design and Methods: Interviews were conducted with adolescents and their parents about perceptions of the adolescent's weight, diet and exercise behaviors, and barriers to engaging in healthy diet and exercise behaviors. Interviews were linked with clinic records to provide body mass index. Results: 104 parent-adolescent dyads participated. Parents and adolescents typically perceived the adolescent's weight as less severe than it actually was. For parents and adolescents, underestimating the adolescent's weight was associated with poorer diet behaviors and more perceived barriers to following healthy diet or exercise behaviors. Conclusions: Addressing misperceptions of weight by adolescents and their parents may be an important first step to improving weight in these patients.
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