A systematic review of the evidence on the effect of parental communication about health and health behaviours on children's health and wellbeing
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Affiliation
University of BathAston University
University of Bedfordshire
Department of Health and Social Care
UK Health Security Agency
Issue Date
2022-04-08Subjects
parent-child communicationsystematic review
health communication
parenting
child wellbeing
health behaviours
Subject Categories::L431 Health Policy
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Parents report feeling unsure how best to talk with their children about sensitive health topics and may avoid such conversations; yet if children have questions or concerns about their health, talking to a parent could enhance their health and wellbeing. We investigated the effects of parental communications about health and health behaviours on children's health and wellbeing, and explored what strategies can encourage parents to communicate about health. We conducted a systematic review and narrative synthesis of research published between January 2008 and April 2020 from five databases. Of 14,007 articles identified, 16 met inclusion criteria focusing on five topics: diet and weight (n = 5), body image (n = 2), sexual health (n = 7), physical activity (n = 1) and bullying (n = 1). Positive child outcomes were associated with positive general parent-child communication characterised by warmth, openness and allowing children choice. Conversely, hostility, negative and inconsistent messaging were associated with poorer outcomes. Interventions to increase parent-child communication could be classified as providing single directive messages, media campaigns or intensive support. Single messages increased communication frequency; media campaigns and intensive interventions showed mixed outcomes. No differences in outcomes were found according to child's gender or socio-economic status. Generally, parents were less confident in initiating, rather than continuing, conversations and were more likely to initiate conversations when they felt they had good topic knowledge. While the relatively small, diverse sample limits the strength of these findings, this review provides provisional support for approaches to promote positive parent-child communication about health that are associated with better child health and wellbeing.Citation
Grey EB, Atkinson L, Chater A, Gahagan A, Tran A, Gillison FB (2022) 'A systematic review of the evidence on the effect of parental communication about health and health behaviours on children's health and wellbeing', Preventive Medicine, 159 (107043)Publisher
ElsevierJournal
Preventive MedicinePubMed ID
35405179Additional Links
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091743522000913Type
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
0091-7435EISSN
1096-0260Sponsors
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1016/j.ypmed.2022.107043
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