32 The Professional Counselor | Volume 14, Issue 1 appearance (Pellizzer & Wade, 2023). Body neutrality is an approach taken to help with the healing of body image, particularly in the field of eating disorders (Perry et al., 2019). Body neutrality tenets appear to be integral in the prevention of body image dissatisfaction and disordered eating (Herle et al., 2020). Practicing body neutrality positively impacts body satisfaction, self-esteem, and negative affect with adults, though continued empirical research is needed on its impact with youth (Walker et al., 2021). Although counselors and other allied professionals integrate body neutrality into their clinical practice, there is minimal research on its efficacy outside of eating disorder treatment. Existing research has emphasized the need for counseling approaches with youth that highlight body neutrality tenets, such as mindful eating and awareness-building conversations about societal messaging (Klassen, 2017). However, researchers have yet to explore how body neutrality could be integrated into a parenting approach. The bulk of the limited understanding of body neutrality is treatment based, rather than prevention oriented. Thus, the purpose of this study was to cultivate a grounded theory or an abstract theoretical understanding of body neutral parenting (Charmaz, 2014). Further insight into the experiences, challenges, and potential barriers in parenting with body neutrality can enable a deeper understanding of how parents seek to promote healthy body image and self-esteem for children and adolescents. In this study, I aimed to offer a newfound understanding to mental health professionals supporting children, adolescents, and caregivers in the areas of body, food, movement, and related mental health implications. Method Methodology To address the paucity of literature, a grounded theory study was conducted to examine the following research question: How do caregivers conceptualize and actualize body neutral parenting with their children? The study derived from constructivist grounded theory (CGT; Charmaz, 2014). CGT is an interpretative, qualitative methodology that acknowledges that researchers and participants co-create the theory (Charmaz, 2014). Given a desire to understand how caregivers conceptualize and utilize body neutral parenting, CGT was deemed appropriate. The purpose of the study was to generate a new theory through inductive analysis of data gleaned from caregivers who self-identify as using body neutral parenting. Role of the Researcher Congruent with CGT, I maintained a position of distant expert (Charmaz, 2014). The theoretical meaning was constructed by turning participants’ experiences into digestible theoretical interpretations. While staying as true to the experiences of the participants as possible, I reconstructed the participants’ stories in the development of the grounded theory via balancing conceptual analysis of participants’ stories and creating a sense of their presence in the narrative (Mills et al., 2006). I sought to examine the impact of my privilege and preconceptions as a White, cisgender woman and professional in the field of mental health counseling, with experience supporting families navigating eating disorders and disordered eating (Charmaz, 2014). Also, as a parent who integrates body neutrality into my approach with my child, I practiced reflexive journaling and other trustworthiness strategies to bracket my biases throughout the study. Participant Recruitment I obtained IRB approval prior to data collection. Per the IRB, all participants verbally consented before partaking in the research study. I used purposive sampling (Patton, 2014) for participant selection. Selection criteria included: (a) being a caregiver to at least one child under the age of 18,
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