The global childhood obesity crisis, especially in the low-income (LI) minority population, has motivated much interest in interventions addressing important related lifestyle behaviors such as healthy eating (HE) and physical activity (PE). Understanding the perceived barriers and facilitators to HE and PA experienced by children and parents/primary caregivers (PC) is important for intervention success. Based on the Social Cognitive Theory and grounded theory, a mixed method (quantitative and qualitative) study was conducted among (n=27) 5 th grade LI elementary students and 11 parents to assess: dietary quality (DQ), PA and related behaviors, weight and health perceptions, food security, child and adult weight status, family nutrition and PA, as well as perceived barriers and facilitators to HE and PA. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 59% for children and 90% for adults. Food insecurity was reported by 41% of children and DQ (Healthy Eating Index-score) for both children and adults needed improvement (64/100). For PA, 81% of children were not meeting the recommendation. For both children and parents the major facilitators to HE and PA were media (exergames and televised nutrition and PA embedded programs), the PA & HE (PE-Nut) program, and community access. The major barriers were neighborhood safety, accessibility to recreation centers, lack of community modeling of healthy lifestyles, time and monetary constraints. Family ecology was found to promote a positive understanding as well as enhance misconceptions of children regarding health, HE, and PA. PE-Nut and other similar programs are therefore much needed to facilitate as well as ensure accuracy of messages/understanding in this and perhaps other target populations. -- Abstract.
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