Objective: Concern over childhood obesity has driven research to focus on prevention and intervention strategies to curb the epidemic. Parental factors like efficacy have gained attention as this concept is grounded in behavioral change research. Studies have linked efficacy to improved child health behaviors like eating a more nutritious diet and engaging increased physical activity. This leads to a need to examine parental efficacy literature to examine its relationship to childhood obesity. Methods: Six databases including the Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, CINAHL, PubMed, Psychinfo, EBSCOhost, and Onesearch were searched for original research studies examining parental efficacy and child health measures like diet, activity, or weight.Results: Only 16 articles were found that met criteria. This limited research did showcase that higher parental efficacy levels are linked to positive effects, especially regarding improved child diet. There is also evidence of an inverse relationship between higher efficacy and lower child weights and higher efficacy and improved child activity levels, though this was not uniformly found. This review also showcased significant variance in how efficacy is measured and how it is used within studies. Conclusion: Connections between parental efficacy and child healthy behaviors has been established in multiple studies. However, this remains an under-examined area that needs further study to understand how it can be used to improve interventions.

Background Parental misperception and underestimation of their child’s weight are documented in studies. Demographic factors like age and gender have been linked to misclassification. However, modifiable factors that could potentially frame future intervention and prevention strategies have not been explored. This study aimed to assess factors that could predict parental misclassification of their preschool child’s weight. Methods This was a cross-sectional study with 198 parents and their 2- to 5-year-old children who attended standalone preschools or childcare centers with preschools. Parents completed a questionnaire that asked about demographic features, personal and family health, and the assessment of their child’s weight using the three most frequently utilized measures. Logistic regression was conducted to assess the association between parental factors and child weight classification status. Instruments included the Parental Self-Efficacy for Promoting Healthy Physical Activity and Dietary Behaviors in Children Scale (PSEPAD), the Obesity Risk Scale (ORK-10), and the Adolescent Obesity Risk Scale (AORK). Analyses included frequencies, chi-square tests, Kappa coefficients, and logistic regressions. Results Parents were least accurate (35.9%) identifying child weight when selecting a picture (κ = -.028, p = .42). The pictorial and Likert method (κ = -.032, p = .37) showed parental agreement with child weight was not significantly better than chance. Statistically, a significant agreement was found in the weight-reporting method (κ = .21). Two of the three HBM-related measures were significantly related to accurate classification. Logistic regression showed child sex, PSEPAD scores, and ORK-10 scores were statistically significant predictors in the Likert method. The model had no statistical significance for the pictorial or weight-reporting method. Conclusion Results indicate parents support intervening if aware of child weight problems. However, parents do not accurately recognize healthy versus unhealthy weights and report that health providers are not informing them of weight deviations. Further, important relationships between the HBM variables were identified. Results show barriers (self-efficacy) mediate the impact of perceived severity (knowledge) regarding the parental ability to assess child weight accurately. These relationships and incorporation of the HBM principles of barriers and severity into prevention/intervention strategies need further exploration.

Research has substantiated that social isolation and loneliness are linked to poorer health, earlier death, and reduced quality of life among older adults. Although there has been research focusing on social networks of nursing home residents and interventions to decrease loneliness and improve social interactions for older adults in varied settings, there is a gap in research relating to social networks of older adults in assisted living and retirement communities. The goal of the current review was to summarize relevant research findings related to this topic published in the past 5 years. The literature review included searching three electronic databases (CINAHL, EBSCOhost, and PubMed) for research articles published between January 2015 and March 2020. A total of 475 articles were identified, which was narrowed to 16 articles included for full review after inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied. Following analysis, three themes were identified in the literature: Social Connections Within an Assisted Living Community , Social Networks Between Residents and Their Adult Children , and Influence of Physical Structure on Social Networks of Residents . [ Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 48 (1), 42–46.]

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Background: Pre-diabetes is a condition that usually has no symptoms, which can lead to decreased awareness of its presence. Like other chronic diseases, pre-diabetes disproportionately affects Hispanic/Latinos populations and places them at greater risk for severe consequences. Latinos are not fully aware of what pre-diabetes is or how it differs from diabetes. This represents a healthcare disparity that requires engagement with the Latino population to address it. Complications of diabetes could be dramatically reduced by increasing awareness of pre-diabetes through engagement with Latinos, health care providers, and pre-diabetes awareness for Latinos. Objective: The purpose of this study was to understand how effective the use of a targeted social media campaign could increase awareness of prediabetes. Design and sample: A two-week long Facebook campaign was conducted with four ads targeted to Idahoans aged 18 plus. These messages involved awareness of prediabetes. The amount of engagement was tracked including shares, reactions, and views. Paid boosts were used to evaluate the natural reach of the messages versus reach with a paid boost. Results: Combined reach of all four posts was 36,578. Organic reach was 7,416 or 20.2% of views while paid reach comprised 29,162 or 79.7% of views. Total reactions totaled 627 with 538 or 85.8% being “like.” The second highest reaction was sad with 37 or 6.7%; all the sad reactions were limited to post one and post three. Conclusion: Use of Facebook appears appropriate to reach individuals with health-related messages, though it is clear that the use of paid boosts improves reach.