Table 1.
Key Prompts for Focus Groups and Interviews
| Focus Group Prompts |
|---|
| 1. Parents’ Group Prompts: |
| Physical activity |
| In some families we’ve talked to, kids play outside a lot; in others, kids stay inside more often—tell me about your children. |
| How much TV do your children watch/video games do they play? |
| What types of activities would you like your child to do more often? |
| What would help them be more physically active? |
| Eating |
| On a typical day, from breakfast to dinner, including snacks, what does your child eat? |
| Would you like to make any changes in your family’s diet? |
| What would make it difficult to change your family’s diet? / What would help to change their diet? |
| Body Image |
| What makes a person healthy? |
| How do you determine if someone is overweight? |
| What are your concerns about your weight? Your child’s weight? |
| What kinds of problems can a person/a child have if s/he is overweight? |
| Programmatic questions (regarding a proposed program for children and parents to work on healthy nutrition and exercise behaviors) |
| What kinds of things would you like to learn from this kind of a program? |
| What would make changing your children’s/family’s diet difficult? What would make it easy? |
| What kinds of things would make changing your children’s/family’s activity patterns difficult? What would make it easy? |
| What kinds of things would make it difficult to attend a program like this? What would make it easy? |
| Do you think your kids would enjoy participating in the program with their parents? |
| Would you like participating in such a program with your kids? |
| 2. Children’s Group Prompts: |
| Physical activity |
| What kinds of things do you like to do after school? |
| What do you like to play with your friends? |
| When friends come over, do you like to play inside or outside more? |
| What kind of activities do you not like to do? |
| Tell me about recess/gym class in your school. |
| Eating |
| What are your favorite foods to eat? |
| What do you like to eat for snacks or after school? |
| What don’t you like to eat? |
| Tell me about the fruits and vegetables that you eat. |
| Who chooses the foods that you eat? |
| Lots of families have rules about eating, like “no desert until you finish your plate.” Does your family have any rules like that? |
| Do you go grocery shopping with your mom or dad? |
| How much attention do you pay to what your friends eat? |
| How comfortable are you eating different foods from what your friends eat? |
| How do you feel about trying new foods? |
| Body Image (showing body shape line drawings* and saying “Let’s talk about what makes people attractive to you and what makes them look healthy.”) |
| Which person would you most like to look like? |
| Which person looks healthiest? |
| What kind of things would make you think a person was overweight? |
| Programmatic questions (prefaced by: “We want to create a health program for kids who are interested in learning new exercises, recipes, and eating habits.”) |
| If you wanted to change the way you eat, what would make if hard? |
| What kinds of things would help you change the way you eat? |
| If you wanted to exercise more, what would make it hard? |
| What kinds of things would help you exercise more? |
| Can you think of any physical activities that you would like to learn or try? |
| What are the top three things we could do to make our program fun for kids like you? |
| Interview Prompts |
|---|
| 3. Prompts for Interviews with Community Leaders: |
| Needs, values, beliefs, practices |
| What kinds of health problems do you observe in your community facing young people? |
| How does the family fit into those health issues? |
| How aware do you think community members are of these problems? |
| What health concerns do you perceive to be of interest to community members? |
| Given all these priorities, where do obesity, nutrition, and exercise fit? |
| What are the barriers to healthy nutrition in this community? |
| What are the barriers to physical activity for children and families? |
| Solutions/Approach |
| What kinds of resources do community members have for healthy lifestyles? |
| (Community organizations/exercise/recreational facilities...) |
| What kinds of programs do you have in your community to address the health problems that you have identified? Where are the ‘holes’? |
| What kinds of programs would you like to see in your community to address the problems that you have identified? |
| Where does the proposed intervention (brief description given) fit into the community? |
| What would be barriers to program effectiveness? |
| How could we best engage members of your facility/community? |
*Figure rating scale adapted from: Stevens J, Story M, Becenti A, et al. Weight-related attitudes and behaviors in fourth grade American Indian children. Obes Res. 1999;7:34–42.