In Phase 1 we were interested in finding out exactly what it is about the current children’s weight management programme on offer in Birmingham that does not suit families from Bangladeshi and Pakistani families. We also wanted to make sure that we develop a modified programme that is as effective as possible in helping overweight children to lose weight.
We reviewed all the available evidence on group-based children’s weight management programmes to ensure that we incorporated all strategies that are known to work well when developing our modified programme. We also undertook a series of interviews and focus groups with Bangladeshi and Pakistani parents and carers of overweight children who have had contact with the current children’s weight management programme. Through these we explored their views on the programme, and how it could be improved to better support them in helping their children to become a healthy weight. In order to explore a range of viewpoints, we interviewed parents who accepted a place on the programme but then did not attend, parents who attended part of the programme, and parents who attended the entire programme. Interviews and focus groups were carried out in the participants’ preferred languages so that they were able to express their views fully.
Once we reviewed the evidence and completed the interviews and focus groups, the resulting information was used to adapt the current programme to better meet the needs of families from Bangladeshi and Pakistani families. The research literature on adapting health promotion programmes for minority ethnic communities, together with our previous experience on developing health promotion programmes for South Asian communities, guided this adaptation process.
The development of the modified children’s weight management programme was completed in July 2015.