A scoping review on the use of a participatory approach in interventions to combat overweight and obesity in low socioeconomic status communities.

PURPOSE

The burden of obesity on individuals and society has received much attention. However, most interventions to combat obesity as well as reviews focus on a (bio)medical approach. Applying an interdisciplinary approach that includes participation of the most heavily burdened low-socioeconomic status (SES) groups, are scarce. The purpose of this scoping review is to identify the characteristics and achievements of studies that applied a participatory approach to inform future development of interventions aiming to reduce obesity among low SES communities.

METHOD

We conducted a scoping review on interventions or initiatives aiming at obesity among groups with low-SES that apply a participatory approach, i.e. that involve the target population throughout the process.

RESULTS

4246 papers were identified and screening of abstracts resulted in 37 eligible papers, resulting in 12 included papers after full-text screening. Among them, 9/12 derived from US; 7/12 were theory-based; 8/12 targeted individuals; 7/12 applied a CBPR protocol; 6/12 were participatory in the development, implementation, assessment, and evaluation phase; 4/12 applied an RCT for impact assessment and 1/12 used solely qualitative methods. 9/11 studies observed a reduction in weight/BMI.

DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: Participatory approaches to inform and execute interventions to tackle obesity in low SES communities is an emerging approach. The findings show that it is feasible to co-create context-sensitive interventions, that can be beneficial on obesity outcomes, by combining theory and expertise by experience.