A systematic review of the evidence on the effect of parental communication about health and health behaviours on children's health and wellbeing.

E B Grey, L Atkinson, A Chater, A Gahagan, A Tran, F B Gillison

Journal: Preventive medicine 2022;159():107043

PMID: 35405179

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Abstract

Parents report feeling unsure how best to talk with their children about sensitive health topics and may avoid such conversations; yet if children have questions or concerns about their health, talking to a parent could enhance their health and wellbeing. We investigated the effects of parental communications about health and health behaviours on children's health and wellbeing, and explored what strategies can encourage parents to communicate about health. We conducted a systematic review and narrative synthesis of research published between January 2008 and April 2020 from five databases. Of 14,007 articles identified, 16 met inclusion criteria focusing on five topics: diet and weight (n = 5), body image (n = 2), sexual health (n = 7), physical activity (n = 1) and bullying (n = 1). Positive child outcomes were associated with positive general parent-child communication characterised by warmth, openness and allowing children choice. Conversely, hostility, negative and inconsistent messaging were associated with poorer outcomes. Interventions to increase parent-child communication could be classified as providing single directive messages, media campaigns or intensive support. Single messages increased communication frequency; media campaigns and intensive interventions showed mixed outcomes. No differences in outcomes were found according to child's gender or socio-economic status. Generally, parents were less confident in initiating, rather than continuing, conversations and were more likely to initiate conversations when they felt they had good topic knowledge. While the relatively small, diverse sample limits the strength of these findings, this review provides provisional support for approaches to promote positive parent-child communication about health that are associated with better child health and wellbeing.

Address: Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK. Electronic address: [email protected].; School of Psychology, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK.; Institute for Sport and Physical Activity Research (ISPAR), Centre for Health, Wellbeing and Behaviour Change, University of Bedfordshire, Polhill Avenue, Bedford MK41 9EA, UK.; Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, Department of Health and Social Care, 39 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0EU, UK.; UK Health Security Agency, Department of Health and Social Care, Noble House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3HX, UK.; Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2022.107043