Question 3
Do you think the
requirement of the father having to spend "at least one meal a week"
with their child in this study is sufficient time for them to understand their
child's dietary habits? If not, how would you change the parameters of the
study?
posted by Unknown @ 7:19 PM
13 comments
13 Comments:
For inclusion in this study, I would argue that eating at least one meal every 2 days with their child would allow for findings to be strengthened and results to be further validated. Since the fathers were asked to provide a 24 hour recall for their child, I believe that more frequent meals times where the father could observe the child's eating patterns is necessary. I believe this is especially important since the study is evaluating a father's influence in a child's dietary habits. If a father is only present for 1-2 meals per week, how strong of an influence could you really assume a father had?
It may have been beneficial to gather specific frequency data on the number of meals that the father consumed with the child both daily and weekly on average. This could generate different levels of father influcence based on the amount of time the child spends with the father during meal times.
I think that it is reasonable for the father only to have had one meal with their child. When you think about it, a child who is between the ages of 3 to 5 years probably either is at daycare or preschool on a given day. At the same time, the father is probably working during the day. Since we are often rushed at breakfast (at least I always was growing up), families don't necessarily sit down for a meal together. Then, if the father is working and the child is at preschool or daycare, they would be eating their snacks and meals at that location. This would leave supper (or dinner). Therefore, I do think it is reasonable. As Jenn mentions, it might not allow for enough information for a father to accurately complete a 24 hour recall. However, when completing a study, I think that 1 meal is the most reasonable criteria. They could perhaps change the measure and use something other than a 24 hour recall.
I think as a minimum it is enough time to get an idea of their child's dietary habits, although it isn't ideal. I think a minimum of 3 meals per week including breakfast, lunch and dinner would be ideal. A child's dietary habits can vary from the time of the meal. Perhaps their child does not like to eat breakfast or eats very lightly for lunch. The father would not know if they are only spending dinner time once a week with their child. Like Jenn mentioned, I cannot imagine the father would have such a heavy influence if he is not spending time with their child during meals more than once a week.
It would be necessary to increase the number of meals spent together so the father can improve his understanding of his child's dietary habits as well as building a strong relationship with his child. Without a strong relationship, I would imagine the child would be less likely to listen or follow the father's lifestyle. I think it would be interesting to address this aspect in future studies though. Do fathers whose child perceive a strong relationship be more likely to be influenced by his/her father's dietary and physical lifestyle compared to a child who does not perceive a strong relationship with his/her father?
I think a minimum of one meal per week is okay to get general results, but I do not think it is ideal. Like Amanda mentioned, children who are 3-5 years old are probably in daycare where they may get lunch and possibly even breakfast, but what about the evening meal? And weekends? If the father is only present for one of those meals a week, how strong of an impact could he have? That makes me wonder who is feeding the child for the other meals and how strong of an influence they would have on the child. It shows how strong of an influence the dad can have on the child even if their mealtimes together are limited. I think this study was a great starting point, but I agree with Jenn having the father eat more meals with the child would further strengthen and validate the results.
Similar to Vivian, I think that this would be an appropriate minimum number to get the general idea of how their child eats and their habits, but more would be better. I think 3-4 meals would be best to get the full picture. Also, as Jenn stated, if the father is only around 1 meal a week, there would hardly be any influence on the child's dietary habits at all. It is common that one or both parents may not be around for several of their children's meals with school, day care, work, etc. But for the purpose of this study, the less times per week the father is around during meal time, the less likely the child will develop his dietary habits.
Amanda, I think you bring up a valid point with the preschool age children consuming meals and snacks at school and/or daycare. I know from first hand experience at WIC that many parents (a majority being mothers) were not fully aware of what their child was consuming while outside of their care. Overall the more I think about it, I feel like there has to be a better way to gather the dietary information from the child. Imagine yourself trying to complete a 24 hr recall for another individual - This definitely poses a challenge and overall may be a weakness to the study results.
After reading through the discussion, I think I may have misread the question the first time! (oops!!) I think I had read it as one meal per DAY instead of week. I thought Steph brought up a more realistic number of 3-4 meals per week. This would allow for more information and father involvement in the life of the child. However, I also agree with Jenn's point about there needing to be a better way to gather dietary data on the child. Can you guys think of a better method for a study of this nature?
It does not seem to me like it would be a sufficient number of meals to me at all. I think this in itself swayed me from thinking that the fathers would have a greater influence on dietary habits. I cannot see how spending that small amount of time each week could have a significant influence. I agree with Jenn that increasing the number of meals per week would certainly strengthen the overall study and allow for the results to be much more valid. I also agree with Vivian and Stephanie, 3-4 meals per week seems like a perfectly realistic number to include for future studies.
Once a week does seem low. I think we might obtain a lot of valuable information by stratifying by how many meals a week and the “who has the final say?” question I proposed in my response to the first question. Stratifying would definitely require a much larger sample to create significance though. I think for a ground breaking study, such as this, we are just looking to gain some information to help guide future studies. If we get too picky too early with narrowly defining the parameters, we risk missing a larger trend, misinterpreting data, or not being able to gather enough data. I think the “once a week” parameter is sufficient with the current state of the evidence on the topic or lack thereof. Future studies will likely have the opportunity to be more selective.
I think collecting data about subject's diets at least one day per week is a good place to start when it comes to a new research topic. Much like everyone else has mentioned, I think that an increased frequency of data collection would benefit the credibility of this study's results.
I like Steph's proposal of collecting data for 3-4 days per week. I also really think Abby has a good point about considering weekend meals and different meals throughout the day.
Just brainstorming here, I think it would be ideal if we could collect 3 days worth of complete dietary data including one weekend day (like how diet analysis assignments in lower level nutrition classes are usually assigned). How will we accomplish such a feat you ask?? Undergrads! We (the researchers) will train the elite undergrads to conduct meticulous 24 hour recalls for study participants to meet the data collection criteria. We will also gather a large some of cash from the ISU research money tree and provide some sort of irrefutably fantastic incentive for the participants so that they agree to comply with the intensive and somewhat time consuming data collection process. The researchers get a wide range of data and the undergrads get some sort of volunteer/professional practice hours. Everyone wins!
It appears everyone is under the consensus that one meal per week is not ideal. I agree with Gina's point that for the study this was appropriate but future research that looks further into the topic needs to be more selective. You guys also recognized that the one meal they spend with the child could be over the weekend and not representative of their actual eating patterns.
Also Des came up with the idea of instead completing one 24 hour recall that three days worth would be better. That is an interesting point and it would need to include the father to have spent way more than one meal with the child to be able to record three 24 hour diet recalls.
I can imagine that the age of the child is a factor in this decision. For example, if this study were looking at teenagers the adolescent would have been required to spend more meals with their father because at that age they have much more freedom and can eat meals out, with friends etc, often.
Only 1 meal a week seems low to me to justify an influence in dietary habits by the father. I think the study was trying to look at a child's basic eating habits and patterns and if out of the week the father is only spending one meal with the child I do not know if you can assume that the father influences the child's eating behaviors because the child's normal eating schedule is without the father. I think the study would have been strengthened if the child was required to have more meals with the father to paint a more typical picture of the child's eating habits.
I agree with Steph that 3-4 meals a week would give the study more accurate results. I think it would also be interesting to see if the child's dietary habits were more greatly influenced by the father the more meals he was able to share with the child.
I also think Abby brought up an interesting point about looking at the other people who feed the child. Now most kids receive breakfast and lunch at school and therefore looking at how these providers affect a child's dietary habits would be interesting to look at.
I like Carly's point about investigating the effects the number of meals the father share have on the father's influence on the child's dietary habits, whether it would change with 1 meal per week or 5 meals per week. I would expect the father to have greater influence with more meals shared, in addition to the father having a better understanding of his child's diet.
Abby's and Carly's idea about including other providers in feeding a child is a great idea for future research! I feel that schools would have a great influence on a child's dietary habits since there is a limited menu for the child to choose from. The school may only offer french fries and carrots, which would affect what vegetables a child eats and they may be more likely to choose french fries with added fats because they don't like steamed mushy carrots.
Sophie also brings up a great point about the age of the child in examining a father's influence on dietary habits. An adolescent may be more influenced by their peers than either parent, while an elementary-aged child is likely to be more influenced by their father than their peers at school.
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