Evaluation of the intervention “Bom Dia”, in Recife- Pernambuco-Brazil in the control of childhood obesity

Abstract

Childhood obesity has been increased sharply in Brazil and worldwide, becoming a major public health problem. This study aims to evaluate the “Bom Dia” program (a multidisciplinary program to care of obese children) in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, according to the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance using the RE-AIM model. In this study, mixed methods were used to collect data, with triangulation of methods, documentation research, directed observation, field journal, questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews, conducted from February to December 2020. This program had a 0.95% reach at community level. Some barriers such as: inflexibility of the program schedule, poor economic conditions, access difficulties, and weak integration in Health Care Network, made in difficult to reach the target population. The program presented "adoption" by all members of the multi professional team. The intervention was successfully implemented, although some adjustments to of the logic model were required over time. “Bom Dia” has been maintained at the organizational level over the years, due to the performance of the intervention team and the support from the health organizations. Finally, despite the "reach" to the target audience had not achieved expressive results, this study is unpublished, and the intervention can promote improvements in the quality of life of obese children and adolescents. Therefore, the results of this study are important for practice and could support the implementation of similar intervention programs to control obesity in children.