Masters Degrees (Human Nutrition)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Human Nutrition) by Author "Berry, Laura Jayne"

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    Exploring the obesogenic environment and behaviour in adolescents : a qualitative study, in the Cape Town Metropole of the Western Cape
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-04) Berry, Laura Jayne; Blaauw, Renee; Du Plessis, Lisanne Monica; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dept. of Global Health. Human Nutrition.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : Background: Obesity is now seen as a global pandemic in adults and children. There are many factors that are understood to have an impact on the obesogenic environment for adolescents including those that affect physical activity and nutrition at different levels of the socio-ecological model. However, much more needs to be understood about this complex phenomenon, to tailor programmes for adolescent health needs and address the growing SA adolescent obesity problem. Aim: The aim of this study was to perform an assessment of school nutrition policies and programmes in the context of the Integrated School Health Policy (ISHP) and in relation to adolescents and the obesogenic environment in urban areas of the City of Cape Town. This was done by engaging with stakeholders and learners through a participatory approach to identify opportunities for having an impact on obesogenic behaviour. Method: This was a qualitative study that made use of focus-group discussions (FGDs) for school learners and individual in-depth interviews (IDIs) for members of the school health team to engage with relevant stakeholders. Seven schools took part in the study. Fourteen FGDs and twenty-one IDIs were held. A boy and girl FGD of 8−12 participants was held at each school. Participants for the IDIs were purposively selected from members of the school health team including: principals, life orientation (LO) teachers, parent-teacher association (PTA) representatives, counsellors and food service managers. The data was audio recorded and transcribed using a transcription service. The raw data was analysed using the qualitative software package Atlas.ti 8. Content analysis was performed and the ‘thematic analysis’ approach was employed to interpret the data. Results: There are many factors that affect the obesogenic environment for urban SA adolescents from Cape Town. The main physical-activity barriers include: intrapersonal factors (feeling lazy, not enough time, low self-esteem and not enjoying the feeling of exercise); interpersonal factors (lack of role models, lack of parental support and not wanting to be a nuisance to parents); environmental factors in the school (lack of resources including school sport facilities and sports equipment); and community safety (gang-related crime). Physical-activity enablers include: intrapersonal (enjoying the feeling of exercise and finding it fun); interpersonal (team spirit and camaraderie); and environmental factors (school sport facilities and equipment; community fun walk/runs). The main barriers to healthy eating include: intrapersonal (taste preferences, knowledge and psychological); interpersonal (working parents); and environmental aspects, such as easily available (tuck shops, fence vendors, fast-food outlets) and accessible (cheap) unhealthy junk food, together with the limited availability (fewer items in tuck shop) and inaccessibility (more expensive) of healthy food. Opportunities for heathy eating include: intrapersonal (taste enjoyment of healthy foods), together with limited environmental factors (provision of healthy foods by home, feeding schemes and some tuck shops). Further to these findings, there appear to be several gaps in the implementation of the ISHP within the school environment, particularly with regards to nutrition policy awareness/knowledge, implementation, monitoring and collaboration. Conclusion: Findings from this study highlight several obesogenic barriers and enablers having an impact on adolescent physical-activity levels and nutrition. The main factors that emerged are at the environmental (school and community) level, including food security and accessibility of physical activity. The results of this study should be shared with the Departments of Health and Education as a matter of urgency. Further research is needed to identify the best ways to overcome the identified barriers and use the enablers to curb the growing problem of obesity.