Researchers from the Parenting and Family Support Centre at the University of Queensland are researching the development of healthy habits in early childhood. As we are keen to include as many parents as possible in our study, I am writing to request the inclusion of a brief study information notice in your newsletter.
Why is this research so important?
Lifestyle factors can have a tremendous impact on many diseases like obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and some cancers. Establishing health-promoting behaviours, or ‘healthy habits’, from birth and during children’s early years can lay the foundation for a lifelong healthy lifestyle and therefore may have greater impact than attempting to change the behaviour of adults. By ‘healthy habits’, we mean behaviours and practices that will benefit children’s health throughout their lifetime – for example, brushing teeth, eating nutritious food, and getting plenty of physical activity. While parents have often heard about published recommendations around healthy habits, putting those guidelines into practice and establishing healthy habits with their child from birth can be challenging.
The research
The aim of our current study is to explore factors that can help or hinder parents in establishing healthy habits with their young children, and to find ways to support parents in this important undertaking. Over the next 3 months, parents of 0-4 year old children are able to participate in a brief anonymous online survey. We would be grateful if you could please include the attached notice in your local newsletter and/or share to your social media pages. The research has a Facebook page which you can find at https://www.facebook.com/Healthy-Habits-856559141160902/
This research project has been approved by the UQ Behavioural & Social Sciences Ethical Review Committee (UQ Clearance Number 2017000887).