Parental Perceptions of Family and Pediatrician Roles in Childhood Weight Management

Parents believe that pediatricians have a central role in identifying childhood weight problems by completing screening tests such as body mass index assessments, interpreting the health implications, and communicating those implications to parents. Ensuring that parents understand the health implications of excess weight is critical given gaps in parental knowledge and confidence with healthy lifestyle changes as well as parental ambivalence toward child-directed interventions.