Background. Health technology provides a wealth of strategies to address chronic health issues, such as childhood obesity. Few studies have assessed parental preferences regarding use of health technology to support weight management for adolescents. Objective. This study determined caregiver beliefs, attitudes, and practices towards using traditional methods and technology-based health applications to address weight management among overweight adolescents. Methods. Self-administered surveys were distributed to caregivers of children ages 11–18 years in Stony Brook Children's Hospital outpatient offices with a BMI ≥ 85th percentile for age, gender. The data were entered into StudyTrax research platform and analyzed using SAS. Results. N = 114. Mean BMI z-score = 1.95 ± 0.50. Two-thirds (65.8%) of caregivers preferred a weight management program that includes both traditional and technology components. Most parents rated involvement in program development (68.1%), access to content (72.4%) as very important. Those who believed their child's weight was a problem (p = 0.01) were more likely than other parents to prefer a program that combined both traditional and technology components. Conclusions. Parents' perceptions of their child's weight drove preferences about incorporating technology elements into a weight management program. Future weight management programs should incorporate parental content preferences and be tailored to different age groups.
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机译：背景。卫生技术提供了许多策略来解决慢性肥胖问题，例如儿童肥胖。很少有研究评估父母对使用健康技术支持青少年体重管理的偏好。目的。这项研究确定了照顾者的信念，态度和实践，他们倾向于使用传统方法和基于技术的保健应用来解决超重青少年的体重管理问题。方法。在石溪儿童医院门诊中，年龄，性别BMI≥85％的11-18岁儿童的监护人进行了自我管理的调查。数据输入到StudyTrax研究平台并使用SAS进行分析。结果。 N =114。平均BMI z分数= 1.95±0.50。三分之二（65.8％）的看护者倾向于采用既包括传统成分又包括技术成分的体重管理计划。大多数父母认为参与程序开发非常重要（68.1％），获得内容的机会（72.4％）。那些认为自己的孩子的体重有问题的人（p = 0.01）比其他父母更喜欢结合了传统和技术成分的计划。结论。父母对孩子体重的看法促使他们倾向于将技术元素纳入体重管理计划。未来的体重管理计划应纳入父母的内容偏好，并针对不同年龄段进行量身定制。
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