School based interventions versus family based interventions in the treatment of childhood obesity- a systematic review
Categorie(s):
Health
Author(s):
Saravana Kumar Kothandan
Keyword(s):
Children, Obesity, Family intervention, School intervention, Frameworks, Treatment
DOI:
Abstract :
Background: The prevalence of childhood obesity, which has seen a rapid increase over the last decade, is now
considered a major public health problem. Current treatment options are based on the two important frameworks
of school- and family-based interventions; however, most research has yet to compare the two frameworks in the
treatment of childhood obesity.
The objective of this review is to compare the effectiveness of school-based intervention with family-based
intervention in the treatment of childhood obesity.
Methods: Databases such as Medline, Pub med, CINAHL, and Science Direct were used to execute the search
for primary research papers according to inclusion criteria. The review included a randomised controlled trial and
quasi-randomised controlled trials based on family- and school-based intervention frameworks on the treatment of
childhood obesity.
Results: The review identified 1231 articles of which 13 met the criteria. Out of the thirteen studies, eight
were family-based interventions (n = 8) and five were school-based interventions (n = 5) with total participants
(n = 2067). The participants were aged between 6 and 17 with the study duration ranging between one month
and three years. Family-based interventions demonstrated effectiveness for children under the age of twelve
and school-based intervention was most effective for those aged between 12 and 17 with differences for both
long-term and short-term results.
Conclusions: The evidence shows that family- and school-based interventions have a considerable effect on
treating childhood obesity. However, the effectiveness of the interventional frameworks depends on factors such
as age, short- or long-term outcome, and methodological quality of the trials. Further research studies are required to
determine the effectiveness of family- and school-based interventions using primary outcomes such as weight, BMI,
percentage overweight and waist circumference in addition to the aforementioned factors.