Parent involvement is an important component of obesity prevention interventions. However, the best way to support parents remains unclear. This review identifies interventions targeting parents to improve children's weight status, dietary and/or activity patterns, examines whether intervention content and behaviour change techniques employed are associated with effectiveness. Seventeen studies, in English, 1998-2008, were included. Studies were evaluated by two reviewers for study quality, nutrition/activity content and behaviour change techniques using a validated quality assessment tool and behaviour change technique taxonomy. Study findings favoured intervention effectiveness in 11 of 17 studies. Interventions that were considered effective had similar features: better study quality, parents responsible for participation and implementation, greater parental involvement and inclusion of prompt barrier identification, restructure the home environment, prompt self-monitoring, prompt specific goal setting behaviour change techniques. Energy intake/density and food choices were more likely to be targeted in effective interventions. The number of lifestyle behaviours targeted did not appear to be associated with effectiveness. Intervention effectiveness was favoured when behaviour change techniques spanned the spectrum of behaviour change process. The review provides guidance for researchers to make informed decisions on how best to utilize resources in interventions to support and engage parents, and highlights a need for improvement in intervention content reporting practices.

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Objective: To assess the prevalence of and explanations for wheat avoidance, including reported symptoms, diagnoses and information sources influencing the decision to avoid wheat, and to investigate potential psychological predictors of this behaviour. Design: Cross-sectional population survey. Setting: The study was conducted in Australia, using a nationwide postal omnibus survey. Subjects: Adults aged 18 years and over (n 1184; 52·9 % female) selected at random from the Australian Electoral Roll. Results: With cases of stated and suspected coeliac disease (1·2 %) excluded, 7·3 % of the sample reported adverse physiological effects, predominantly gastrointestinal, that they associated with wheat consumption. Few among this group (5·7 %) claimed a formally diagnosed intolerance or allergy requiring avoidance of wheatbased foods. Symptomatic wheat avoidance was highly correlated with dairy avoidance and predicted by gender (female), lesser receptiveness to conventional medicine and greater receptiveness to complementary medicine, but not by neuroticism, reasoning style or tendency to worry about illness. Conclusions:The data indicate that many adult Australians are consciously avoiding consumption of wheat foods, predominantly without any formal diagnosis. Reported symptoms suggest a physiological but not allergenic basis to this behaviour. Questions to be answered concern whether symptoms are attributed correctly to wheat, the agents (wheat components, dietary factors or additives) and physiological mechanism(s) involved, the nutritional adequacy of avoiders' diets, and the clinical and psychosocial processes that lead a substantial number of adults to avoid consuming wheat (or any other dietary factor) apparently independently of a medical diagnosis.

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