ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Clinical Nutrition
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1628853
Barriers and Facilitators to Dietary Behavior Change and Goal Setting in Adolescents with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
Provisionally accepted
Manasa Gadiraju1
Joy Y Kim2Erin M Green2Alexandra MacMillan Uribe3Honghui Chang4Tania S Burgert5
Melissa Olfert6
Heidi Vanden Brink4*- 1University of Missouri - Kansas City, Kansas City, United States
- 2Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
- 3Institute for Advancing Health through Agriculture, College Station, United States
- 4Texas A&M University, College Station, United States
- 5Children's Mercy Kansas City, Kansas City, United States
- 6West Virginia University, Morgantown, United States
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Purpose: To identify barriers and facilitators to lifestyle modifications and goal setting and characterize goal setting for adolescents with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Methods: Retrospective chart review of registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) nutrition notes from 118 adolescents with PCOS 11-21 years evaluated at a multi-specialty PCOS clinic. Goals, barriers, and facilitators were coded using open coding and a priori objectives and characterized for emerging themes using qualitative content analysis. Results: Five major themes of barriers and facilitators to behavior change emerged: interest and motivation, family involvement, resources and food environment, taste preferences, and self-efficacy. RDNs set ≥3 goals with 52%, 2 goals with 35%, 1 goal with 9%, and no goals with 3% of adolescents with PCOS. Goals covered three major themes: incorporation of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) MyPlate model, modifying carbohydrate intake, and increasing physical activity. Conclusion: The facilitators and barriers identified through our analysis are both similar and different to those reported in adolescents with obesity and women with PCOS, likely due to differences in condition specific contexts and life stage. The goals recorded by RDNs reflect a desire to increase diet quality; however, too many goals may have been set on average. Overall, adolescents with PCOS report intrapersonal, interpersonal, and environmental barriers and facilitators that may affect their ability to establish and act upon goals.
Keywords: Registered Dietitian Nutritionist1, RDN2, PCOS3, Diet4, Qualitative research5, goals6, adolescence7
Received: 14 May 2025; Accepted: 17 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gadiraju, Kim, Green, MacMillan Uribe, Chang, Burgert, Olfert and Vanden Brink. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Heidi Vanden Brink, heidi.vandenbrink@ag.tamu.edu
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.