Abstract
Parents substantially influence children’s diet and physical activity behaviors, which consequently impact childhood obesity risk. Given this influence of parents, the objective of this umbrella review was to synthesize evidence on effects of parent involvement in diet and physical activity treatment and prevention interventions on obesity risk among children aged 3–12 years old. Ovid/MEDLINE, Elsevier/Embase, Wiley/Cochrane Library, Clarivate/Web of Science, EBSCO/CINAHL, EBSCO/PsycInfo, and Epistemonikos.org were searched from their inception through January 2020. screening, full-text review, quality assessment, and data extraction were conducted independently by at least two authors. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of diet and physical activity interventions that described parent involvement, included a comparator/control, and measured child weight/weight status as a primary outcome among children aged 3–12 years old were included. Data were extracted at the level of the systematic review/meta-analysis, and findings were narratively synthesized. Of 4158 references identified, 14 systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses (eight treatment focused and six prevention focused) were included and ranged in quality from very low to very high. Our findings support the inclusion of a parent component in both treatment and prevention interventions to improve child weight/weight status outcomes. Of note, all prevention-focused reviews included a school-based component. Evidence to define optimal parent involvement type and duration and to define the best methods of involving parents across multiple environments (e.g., home, preschool, school) was inadequate and warrants further research. PROSPERO registration: CRD42018095360.
Highlights
Childhood overweight and obesity remain at alarmingly high levels despite extensive intervention efforts [1]
Effectiveness was demonstrated for parent involvement in prevention interventions that were more comprehensive [54] as well as in a comparison of 53 interventions with parent involvement against 30 interventions without involvement; the results, which showed that parent involvement significantly enhanced effectiveness of school-based interventions [55]. These findings suggest parent involvement can be included in interventions for children aged 3–12 years old beyond the family home environment; this result supports findings from previous umbrella reviews about the importance of parent involvement in school-based prevention and treatment interventions for adolescents and children [31] and for promoting healthy eating within child care settings [24]
Parent involvement appears to be a beneficial component of nutrition- and physical activity-focused interventions for the prevention and treatment of overweight and obesity among children aged 3–12 years old
Summary
Childhood overweight and obesity remain at alarmingly high levels despite extensive intervention efforts [1]. Parent-level factors that influence child behaviors include food purchasing and meal preparation choices; parenting style; and knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors around food, physical activity, and health [16,17,18,19,20]. These influences are important within the family home environment. Many children spend significant time in environments outside of the home, such as childcare, preschool, and/or school For this reason, considering parent involvement as part of interventions across these various settings is recommended to increase impact on child obesity and related factors [21,22,23,24] in alignment with socioecological models of child obesity [25]
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