The effectiveness of nurse‐led interventions to prevent childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity: A systematic review of randomised trials

Abstract

Background Obesity among children and adolescents continues to rise worldwide. Despite the efforts of the healthcare workforce, limited high-quality evidence has been put forward demonstrating effective childhood obesity interventions. The role of nurses as primary actors in childhood obesity prevention has also been underresearched given the size of the workforce and their growing involvement in chronic disease prevention. Aim To examine the effectiveness of nurse-led interventions to prevent childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity. Design A systematic review of randomised trials. Data sources Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE, Cochrane (CENTRAL), ProQuest Central and SCOPUS were searched from inception to March 2020. Review methods This review was informed by the Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions. Results Twenty-six publications representing 18 discrete studies were included (nine primary prevention and nine secondary prevention). Nurse-led interventions were conducted in diverse settings, were multifaceted, often involved parents and used education, counselling and motivational interviewing to target behaviour change in children and adolescents’ diet and physical activity. Most studies did not determine that nurse-led interventions were more effective than their comparator(s) in preventing childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity. Conclusions Nurse-led interventions to prevent juvenile obesity are feasible but have not yet determined effectiveness. With adequate training, nurses could make better use of existing clinical and situational opportunities to assist in the effort to prevent childhood obesity.