Why “mealtime chatter matters”: A process evaluation of a preventive health brief intervention

Abstract

How parents communicate about food is important for building children’s emotional relationships with food. “Mealtime Chatter Matters” (MCM) is an evidence-informed brief intervention providing behavioral strategies for parents focusing on positive communication at mealtimes. This process study explored parents’ experiences of the brief intervention. Nine mothers participated in interviews, followed by a qualitative inductive analysis. Findings revealed the strengths and weaknesses of MCM and critical reflections of participants’ experiences that can be used to inform future program strategies. This study has important health marketing implications for developing preventive health resources and indicates that future research on mealtime communication is warranted.

Keywords:

• Disordered eating
• food communication
• health marketing
• prevention
• primary care

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.