Abstract

Background: Obesity and overweight one of the most critical public health confrontations. It is a leading cause for many of the common health problems among children. The level of Parent’s perception about their children weight status is mainly play a major role in the childhood obesity’s development and management.

Aims: this study aimed to explore parental stress and perception related to obesity or overweight, during childhood period aged seven to twelve years, as well as, to estimate the prevalence of obesity and overweight for the same age group.

Methods: A cross-sectional design study was conduct in 2017 at 27 governmental and private elementary schools in Aqaba, Jordan. Throught a multi stage cluster sampling method,a total of 704 parents of children were recruited. The Obesity Parental Perception Scale (OPPS), the Parental Stress Measurement Scale (PSMS) were used.

Results: The prevalence of obesity and overweight among children was 7.5%. The highest parent's perception levels was 71.7% of the parent’s had semi-adequate perception about the weight of their children .54.3%of the parents had experienced high-stress level. Parental perception levels showed significant association with educational levels of parents.

Conclusion: Overweight and obesity are becoming a health problem among children in Jordan. More than half of the parents had experienced high-stress level related to their children weight status. Developing community awareness, decreasing parental stress, improving parents’ perception, and reinforcing healthy lifestyle not only for the children but also for the family are needed.

Keywords: Obesity; Overweight; Perception; Children; Stress; Parent