Table 3.
Themes | Subthemes |
---|---|
Theme 1. Food choices, nutrition and health |
Facilitators Self-perceived nutrition value of foods Mother’s health literacy including knowledge of healthy foods Multiple sources of nutritional information Barriers Inadequate health and nutrition literacy of mothers. |
Theme 2. Availability and accessibility of foods |
Facilitators Easily available heathy food items, while dinning out or other places of outing. Barriers Availability, costs, and affordability of unhealthy foods. |
Theme 3. Buying time for parents |
Facilitators Empowering and upskilling mothers to withstand children demands. Barriers Time constraints in the preparation of healthy meals. Abundant availability of unhealthy foods and advertising aimed directly at young children. |
Theme 4. Child’s age and their preference on food choices |
Facilitators Put restrictions on advertising unhealthy foods on TV and social media. Restrict the display of unhealthy products in retailers. Barriers Children autonomy in making choices for their meals and drinks. Mothers’ assumption of an association between choice of food and children age Inability to withstand the child’s demand and temperament. Role of family members, friends, and media to influence children feeding choice |
Theme 5. Conditioning certain behaviours by family and cultural factors |
Facilitators Previous experience with older children influences mother’s dietary choices for younger child. Encourage rewards for good behaviour, or achievements. Mothers’ healthy decisions to obscure unhealthy foods from sights of the children Role modelling behaviour influences child’s meal, drink, and snack choices. Barriers Culture, belief, and misconception about healthy foods. |