Knowledge and practices of nurses working in primary health care services about childhood obesity

This descriptive research was conducted with the aim of determining the knowledge and practices of nurses working in primary health care services about childhood obesity. The survey universe was formed by 100 nurses working at 46 Family Health Centers in Esenler, Şişli and Beşiktaş districts of Istanbul province. Sampling selection was not performed and all nurses working in Family Health Centers and accepting to take part in the study were included. Written permission was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Koç University and related institutions for the research. The data of the study was collected by the researcher based on the literature related to the subject and a sample of the questionnaire is provided in this article. In the questionnaire there are 20 questions aimed at determining the knowledge and practice of nurses about childhood obesity along with their socio-demographic characteristics. Prior to the application of the questionnaire, a pre-application survey was performed in 10 nurses and the clarity of the questions was evaluated and necessary corrections were made in the questionnaire. Data were analyzed in the computer. After the surveys were applied, the data were entered into the IBM SPSS 20.0 program and prepared for analysis. Firstly, open-ended questions were categorized and error analysis was performed to correct incorrect entries. Demographic characteristics and frequency tables of responses to questions related to childhood obesity and percentage rates were prepared. Then, several demographic characteristics were compared by chi-square analysis and questions related to childhood obesity were compared by cross-analysis. Ninety-nine percent of the nurses are women and 30% are between ages of 26 to 30 years. Fifty-one percent of them have a bachelor degree and 38% of the nurses are in the profession for 6-10 years and 63% of them are in the primary health care service for 0-5 years. In the opinions of the nurses about the causes of childhood obesity, 96% stated eating habits and 14% indicated the peer pressure as the cause of obesity. A significant difference was found between the nurses who felt competent and did not feel competent about counseling children and their families in terms of participation in an education program about childhood obesity (X2=14,967; p =0,000 <0.05). It was found that 37 (52,1%) of the nurses who felt competent in counseling children and their families about obesity answered yes, while 34 (47,9%) answered no; 3 (10.3%) and 26 (89.7%) of the nurses who did not feel competent in counseling about obesity to children and their families answered yes and no, respectively. With regard to the knowledge about the methods used to determine the childhood obesity of the nurses, 35% of them expressed that they know the methods used to determine obesity, and 65% stated that they do not know these methods. Nurses' views on the role of the school in the prevention of childhood obesity indicated that 24% indicated that unhealthy food sold in school canteens should be avoided and 6% had the opinion that preparing the public spot on the subject would be beneficial. Initiatives aimed at preventing the negative consequences of obesity should begin in the preschool period. It is thought that establishing healthy lifestyle behaviors by mothers and primary care nurses who have the most important influence on the child's nutrition and activity behavior will provide important contributions to the solution.