Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Paper

College

College of Health & Human Services

First Advisor

Jean Cadet

Abstract

Purpose: Is to identify the barriers and challenges parents face while raising plant-based children in North America.

Design: A phenomenological qualitative study using semi-structured interviews was used to establish thematic barriers among plant-based parents.

Setting: Parents raising their children following a vegan and/or whole food plant-based diet and residing in North America.

Participants: A total of 22 parents of plant-based children ages 0-17 participated in 19 ZOOM semi-structured interviews.

Phenomenon of Interest: Barriers and challenges faced by parents raising their children plant-based.

Analysis: Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed with NVivo 12 using thematic analysis techniques.

Results: Six parental perceived barrier and challenge themes were identified: (1) extended family, (2) perceptions of others, (3) eating away from home, (4) access to convenience foods, (5) extra work and time, and (6) organic and specialty/convenience food prices. Although not perceived by most parents as barriers, (7) healthcare provider concern based in lack of education and (8) lack of resources provided were thematic barriers and challenges encountered while raising plant-based children.

Conclusions and Implications: Provides important understanding of parental experiences while raising plant-based children and highlights the barriers and challenges faced. This research shows that further studies are needed to determine distinct barriers, interventions, support, and resources that would decrease barriers and challenges to raising plant-based children and ensure the health of plant-based children while supporting parents

Comments

Research Based Capstone

Subject Area

Nutrition

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Included in

Nutrition Commons

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