Abstract
Effective treatment interventions for childhood obesity involve parents, are multicomponent and use behavior change strategies, but more information is needed on the mechanisms influencing behavioral outcomes and the type of parental involvement that is efficacious in behavioral treatment interventions with school-age children. This review aimed to understand key characteristics of programs that contribute to dietary and physical activity behavioral outcomes, and through which key mechanisms. This was a systematic review with narrative synthesis following PRISMA guidelines and realist analysis using RAMESES guidelines to explain outcome patterns and influence of parental involvement. Overall, the findings contribute to understanding the complex relationship between family barriers to behavior change, strategies employed in treatment interventions and behavioral outcomes. Implications for enhancing future policy and practice include involving parents in goal setting, motivational counselling, role modeling, and restructuring the physical environment to promote mutual empowerment of both parents and children, shared value and whole-family ownership in which intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy are implicit. These characteristics were associated with positive dietary and physical activity behavior change in children and may be useful considerations for the design and implementation of future theory-based treatment interventions to encourage habitual healthy diet and physical activity to reduce childhood obesity.
Highlights
Reducing the prevalence of childhood obesity is a global public health focus
This review aimed to enrich understanding of the ways child-focused behavior change treatment interventions contribute to reported obesity-related behavioral outcomes and the influence of specific program characteristics and mechanisms
The overall objective was to understand the key characteristics of programs that contribute to positive dietary and physical activity behavioral outcomes, and through which key mechanisms
Summary
In 2016, over 340 million school-aged children and adolescents aged 5–19 were overweight or obese [1]. Systematic reviews have found that being overweight as a child carries a high risk of being obese as an adult [2], and of bringing associated conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes into earlier life [3]. Current and future health services are crucial for preventing and managing childhood obesity [4], and behavioral strategies to support the adoption and improvement of health-related behaviors in children are becoming increasingly central to these programs [5]. Multicomponent interventions involving nutrition education, physical activity, behavior change and parenting strategies, targeting more than one energy balance-related behavior (physical activity, sedentary and dietary behaviors) are considered best practice in the literature [6,7]. Children are 10 times more at risk for obesity when both their parents are obese [8], and experts in childhood obesity
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
