Abstract
Current trends suggest that adolescent obesity is an on-going and recurrent decimal that is still on the rise in Australia and the social burden associated with it can significantly cause low self-esteem and lack of confidence in personal body image in adulthood. Nonetheless, evidence-based prevention programs are not widely implemented in schools, even though they are commonplace for easy access to adolescents. The primary objective of this systematic review was to assess the scope and efficacy of adolescent obesity intervention strategies in Australian schools, to guide future research. Seven electronic databases were searched for peer-reviewed school-based intervention articles written in the English language and targeting 12–18-year-old adolescents. Intervention characteristics were extracted, and quality, efficacy and outcome measures were assessed utilizing thirteen studies that met the inclusion criteria for this review. Most of the Australian adolescent obesity research emanated from the State of New South Wales and none were nationwide. Five studies successfully met all the requirements in all measured outcomes, four met at least one measured outcome and the remaining four were unsuccessful. Despite the weak evidence of intervention efficacy for most of the reviewed studies, school-based interventions with multi-component combinations of physical activity, nutrition and alignment to a theory yielded promising results. Our findings point to the need for future research to assess the perceptions of school stakeholders in relation to the barriers and enablers to establishing school-based prevention and intervention programs for adolescents.
Highlights
Obesity in adolescents continues to be a subject of increasing global public health importance, highlighting the need for evidence-based public health action towards its prevention and control [1,2]
The criteria for selection were: (1) peer-reviewed quantitative studies conducted in Australia from 2009 and current, (2) studies targeting adolescents (12 to 18 years old) attending an Australian high school or college, (3) studies where interventions were implemented in a school setting, (4) studies published in the English language and (5) community interventions for adolescents implemented by school stakeholders in a school setting
The studies were conducted in three Australian states and the capital territory: New South Wales (NSW) had nine studies (n = 9), Victoria [18] had two studies (n = 2), Queensland (QLD) had one study (n = 1) and one study was conducted in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT)
Summary
Obesity (the abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat in the body) in adolescents continues to be a subject of increasing global public health importance, highlighting the need for evidence-based public health action towards its prevention and control [1,2]. While excessive food intake and sedentary lifestyles are the main causes of obesity [10], other factors such as medical illness, use of certain medications, consumption of energy-dense foods or beverages and eating disorders, especially, binge eating, have been associated with the risk of the disorder [10,11]. The social burden associated with obesity in adolescence can significantly cause low self-esteem and lack of confidence in personal body image in adulthood [12].
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