Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Perceptions and Practices Related to Obesity in Adolescent Students and Their Programmatic Implications: Qualitative Evidence from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

  • Published:
Maternal and Child Health Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background Prevalence of obesity in children in Ho Chi Minh City is rising in the last 10 years. We conducted a formative study to explore the perceptions and practices related to obesity, diet and physical activity among the students in two junior high schools in two suburbs in Ho Chi Minh City to aid in the design of an intervention in preventing obesity among adolescent school children. Method We conducted in-depth interviews with twenty participants including students, their parents, physical education teachers and a representative of the Department of Education. Manually coded and organized data were analysed applying a thematic analysis approach to divulge trends, diversities and similarities among the emerging themes. Results The study revealed diversified perceptions of obesity, diet and physical activity and their relationship with adolescent obesity. The findings indicated low practice of physical activity among almost all students who participated in the study. The major barriers to obesity prevention included knowledge gaps, food environment in the school, devaluation of physical activity and academic burden. Conclusion The findings provide contextual insights to design a culturally appropriate and feasible intervention to tackle child and adolescent obesity by harnessing the perspectives of the target populations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

HCMC:

Ho Chi Minh City

PA:

Physical activity

PE:

Physical education

TV:

Television

References

  • Adami, F., & Vasconcelos, Fde. A. (2008). Childhood and adolescent obesity and adult mortality: A systematic review of cohort studies. Cad Saude Publica, 24(Suppl 4), s558–s568.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bluher, S., et al. (2011). Age-specific stabilization in obesity prevalence in German children: A cross-sectional study from 1999 to 2008. International Journal of Pediatric Obesity, 6(2–2), e199–e206.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boone, J. E., et al. (2007). Screen time and physical activity during adolescence: longitudinal effects on obesity in young adulthood. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 4(1), 26.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2014). What can “thematic analysis” offer health and wellbeing researchers? International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being. doi:10.3402/qhw.v9.26152.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Bray, G. A. (2004). How do we get fat? An epidemiologic and metabolic approach. Clinics in dermatology, 22(4), 281–288.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, T., & Summerbell, C. (2009). Systematic review of school-based interventions that focus on changing dietary intake and physical activity levels to prevent childhood obesity: An update to the obesity guidance produced by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Obesity Reviews, 10(1), 110–141.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dieu, P. L. X., et al. (2012). Academic stress and its associations among secondary school students in the Central of Vietnam. In The 4th International Conference on Public Health among Greater Mekong Sub-regional Countries. Kunming City, Yunnan Province, Peoples Republic of China.

  • Doak, C. M., et al. (2006). The prevention of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents: A review of interventions and programmes. Obesity reviews: An official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 7(1), 111–136.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Euromonitor International. (2014). Fast Food in Vietnam. Consumer Foodservice. Retrieved October 29, 2014, from http://www.euromonitor.com/fast-food-in-vietnam/report.

  • Freemantle, N., et al. (2008). How strong is the association between abdominal obesity and the incidence of type 2 diabetes? International Journal of Clinical Practice, 62(9), 1391–1396.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Gupta, N., et al. (2012). Childhood obesity in developing countries: epidemiology, determinants, and prevention. Endocrine Reviews, 33(1), 48–70.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Julia, M., et al. (2008). Tracking for underweight, overweight and obesity from childhood to adolescence: A 5-year follow-up study in urban Indonesian children. Hormone Research, 69(5), 301–306.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Keith, S. W., Fontaine, K. R., & Allison, D. B. (2013). Mortality rate and overweight: Overblown or underestimated? A commentary on a recent meta-analysis of the associations of BMI and mortality. Molecular Metabolism, 2(2), 65–68.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Kodama, S., et al. (2014). Quantitative relationship between body weight gain in adulthood and incident type 2 diabetes: A meta-analysis. Obesity reviews: an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 15(3), 202–214.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, W., et al. (2007). Nutrition knowledge, attitude, and behavior of Taiwanese elementary school children. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2, 534–546.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd, L. J., Langley-Evans, S. C., & McMullen, S. (2010). Childhood obesity and adult cardiovascular disease risk: A systematic review. International Journal of Obesity, 34(1), 18–28.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd, L. J., Langley-Evans, S. C., & McMullen, S. (2012). Childhood obesity and risk of the adult metabolic syndrome: A systematic review. International Journal of Obesity, 36(1), 1–11.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lundahl, A., Kidwell, K. M., & Nelson, T. D. (2014). Parental underestimates of child weight: A meta-analysis. Pediatrics, 133(3), e689–e703.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lustig, R. H. (2001). The neuroendocrinology of childhood obesity. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 48(4), 909–930.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nguyen, P. V., et al. (2013). High prevalence of overweight among adolescents in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. BMC Public Health, 13(141), 1471–2458.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nguyen, T. H., et al. (2010). Association between physical activity and metabolic syndrome: A cross sectional survey in adolescents in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. BMC Public Health, 10(141), 1471–2458.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olds, T., et al. (2011). Evidence that the prevalence of childhood overweight is plateauing: Data from nine countries. International Journal of Pediatric Obesity, 6(5–6), 342–360.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ortega, F. B., Ruiz, J. R., & Castillo, M. J. (2013). [Physical activity, physical fitness, and overweight in children and adolescents: evidence from epidemiologic studies]. Endocrinologia y Nutricion, 60(8), 458–469.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Oude Luttikhuis, H., et al. (2009). Interventions for treating obesity in children. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD001872.pub2.

  • Park, D. W., et al. (2013). Association of body mass index with major cardiovascular events and with mortality after percutaneous coronary intervention. Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions, 6(2), 146–153.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patro, B., & Szajewska, H. (2010). Meal patterns and childhood obesity. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care, 13(3), 300–304.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Phan, T. (2004). A qualitative study of Vietnamese parental involvement and their high academic achieving children. Journal of Authentic Learning, 1, 51–61.

  • Rauner, A., Mess, F., & Woll, A. (2013). The relationship between physical activity, physical fitness and overweight in adolescents: A systematic review of studies published in or after 2000. BMC Pediatrics, 13, 19.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Strazzullo, P., et al. (2010). Excess body weight and incidence of stroke: Meta-analysis of prospective studies with 2 million participants. Stroke: A Journal of Cerebral Circulation, 41(5), e418–e426.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sylvetsky, A. C., et al. (2013). Youth understanding of healthy eating and obesity: A focus group study. Journal of obesity, 2013, 670295.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • The World Bank. (2013). The World Development Indicators: School enrollment, Primary (%net), W. Bank, Ed., World Bank website.

  • Trang, N. H., Hong, T. K., & Dibley, M. J. (2012). Cohort profile: Ho Chi Minh City Youth Cohort–changes in diet, physical activity, sedentary behaviour and relationship with overweight/obesity in adolescents. BMJ Open, 2(1), e000362.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Vietnam General Statistical Office. (2009). Education in Vietnam—Analysis of major indicators. General Statistical Office of Vietnam.

  • Wabitsch, M., Moss, A., & Kromeyer-Hauschild, K. (2014). Unexpected plateauing of childhood obesity rates in developed countries. BMC Medicine, 12(17), 1741–7015.

    Google Scholar 

  • WHO. (2010). Road safety in Viet Nam. Road traffic injuries. Retrieved January 22, 2010, from http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_traffic/countrywork/vnm/en/.

  • Wirth, A., Wabitsch, M., & Hauner, H. (2014). The prevention and treatment of obesity. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 111(42), 705–713.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Q., & Zhan, S. Y. (2007). [Systematic review on the rate for injury incident among elementary and middle school students in China]. Zhonghua Liu Xing Bing Xue Za Zhi, 28(9), 881–885.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the students, parents and teachers for their participation in the study. We would like to thank the two participating schools and their staff, the Department of Education and Training in Ho Chi Minh City for their constructive cooperation. We acknowledge the contribution of the Sydney School of Medicine; and the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre at the University of Sydney, Australia for supporting this study. The donors have no role in designing the study, data collection and interpretation of data.

Authors’ Contributions

AA designed the study. HKT supervised data collection. HKT and NMN collected the data. NMN was responsible for data analysis and developing the first draft of the manuscript. AA supervised data analysis and writing up the paper, and critically modified and finalised the manuscript. NMN and AA responded to the reviewers. MJD critically reviewed the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Ngoc-Minh Nguyen & Hong K. Tang

  2. Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Michael J. Dibley & Ashraful Alam

Authors
  1. Ngoc-Minh Nguyen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael J. Dibley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Hong K. Tang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ashraful Alam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ashraful Alam.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Authors declare no competing interest.

Annex

Annex

See Table 4.

Table 4 Characteristics of the participants in this study
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nguyen, NM., Dibley, M.J., Tang, H.K. et al. Perceptions and Practices Related to Obesity in Adolescent Students and Their Programmatic Implications: Qualitative Evidence from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Matern Child Health J 21, 2199–2208 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-017-2340-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-017-2340-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation