Childhood obesity: perceptions of the Calgary public

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions about childhood obesity as held by the adult public in Calgary. In this cross sectional study, which was modeled after Hardus et al Int J Obes 2003;27:1465-71, adults were recruited from a shopping mall located in a sociodemographically diverse region of Calgary. A total of 264 adults completed a questionnaire on which they provided demographic information and rated the importance of 25 potential causes of obesity and 13 potential preventive measures. Principal components analysis was used to reduce the "cause" and "prevention" items respectively into a smaller number of internally consistent factors. T-test and ANOV A were then used to assess differences on factor scores by demographic variables. These analyses revealed differences by sex and by weight category. This study thus offers preliminary guidance about publicly acceptable intervention strategies for this important public health problem.