Influence et facteurs incitatifs de la participation des parents dans un programme d’éducation à la nutrition implanté en milieu scolaire : Petits cuistots – Parents en réseaux

In the course of their growth, young people are exposed to disease risk factors associated with lifestyle, including food. Evidence has shown that school-based interventions implemented to change their dietary behavior are more effective when parents take parts in the activities. However, studies carried out in this areas show a low level of parental involvement in the suggested activities.   Research on parental involvement in school nutrition education interventions reveals significant gaps regarding the definition of the concept. Parental involvement is defined by the frequency of appearance of parents in school and the role of these interventions, in what in our view, constitutes a reductionist vision of the dimensions of the concept. Moreover, these studies in the literature emphasize the proportion of participating parents and its effect on children, without being concerned with what could explain their involvement with the suggested activities.   The aim of this thesis is to document the mechanisms underlying the involvement of parents in health promotion school-based programs. More specifically, this study aims to identify the relationship between the different dimensions of parental involvement and children feeding behaviors following the exposure of the latter to a nutrition education project implemented in eight primary schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods of Montreal: Project PC – PR, while assessing the influence of certain family characteristics on this link. We also explore the relationship between factors that motivate parents to participate and their investment in the project.  This research is a secondary analysis of data from a sample of parents of children attending schools participating in the Project PC-PR (N = 502). Parental involvement is conceptualized in four dimensions with reference to the notion of the mesosystem proposed by Bronfenbrenner (1979), while the factors associated with parental involvement are defined by drawing on the work of Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (1995, 1997). Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed.  Analyses of parental views show a positive association between parental involvement in activities (i.e. home-based involvement, intersetting communications and intersetting knowledge) and the development of children's eating behaviors. The moderating effects of family variables (language, number of children at home, parents’ age and views on the need that the child knows how to eat), on this relationship are also identified. Parents’ motivations for involvement (parental role construction, parents’ sense of efficacy and opportunities offered by the project to encourage parental involvement) are related to the latter's participation in food nutrition activities. The results of this research not only contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the field, but provide grounds for a reflection to better guide health promotion interventions.

Keyphrases: parent, participation, school, involvement, child, nutrition education, behaviour, motivations, Montreal