Yes / Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) have the capacity to promote healthy
behaviours in young children through routine ‘contact points’, as well as structured weight
management programmes. This scoping review aims to evaluate the impact of AHPs in the
prevention of obesity in young children.
Methods: Databases were searched for relevant evidence between 1st January 2000 and 17th
January 2022. Eligibility criteria included primary evidence (including, but not limited to;
randomised controlled trials, observational studies, service evaluations) evaluating the
impact of AHPs on the primary and secondary prevention of obesity in young children (mean
age under five years old).
Results: AHP related interventions typically demonstrated improvements in outcomes such
as nutritional behaviour (e.g., lower sweetened drink intake), with some reductions in screen
time. However, changes in weight outcomes (e.g., Body Mass Index (BMI) z score, BMI) in
response to an AHP intervention were inconsistent. There was insufficient data to determine
moderating effects, however tentative evidence suggests that those with a lower
socioeconomic status or living in an underprivileged area may be more likely to lose weight
following an AHP intervention. There was no evidence identified evaluating how AHPs use
routine ‘contact points’ in the prevention of obesity in young children.
Conclusion: AHP interventions could be effective in optimising weight and nutritional
outcomes in young children. However, more research is required to determine how routine
AHP contact points, across the range of professional groups may be used in the prevention
of obesity in young children.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/19229 |
| Date | 04 November 2022 |
| Creators | Griffiths, A., Brooks, Rob, Haythorne, R., Kelly, G., Matu, J., Brown, T., Ahmed, K., Hindle, L., Ells, L. |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article, Published version |
| Rights | ©2023 The Authors. This is an Open Access article distributed under the Creative Commons CC-BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), CC-BY |
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