How science thinks and practice acts: bridging the gap in weight management interventions for adolescents

Adolescent obesity calls for evidence-based treatment approaches given its long-term physical and psychosocial consequences. However, research shows there are many problems in the translation of scientific evidence into practice.

The aim of this study was to develop science- and practice-based recommendations for the planning of future adolescent weight management interventions.

We performed (i) literature reviews on intervention studies targeting treatment of obesity in adolescents and Dutch clinical guidelines for obesity as well as practice-based documents and grey literature on treating obesity and delivering health programs for adolescents and (ii) semi-structured interviews with eight clinicians and four non-clinicians working in obesity treatment, management and prevention to explore perspectives on treating adolescent obesity and using evidence in practice.

After merging the results from the literature reviews and interviews, four issues emerged: (i) little reporting on theoretical models used in intervention studies, Dutch clinical guidelines and semi-structured interviews; (ii) inconsistency on age-specific considerations for treating obesity in adolescents in intervention studies and Dutch clinical guidelines; (iii) inconsistency on addressing the social nature of obesity in intervention studies and Dutch clinical guidelines and (iv) how professional responsibility should be divided is unclear from intervention studies, Dutch clinical guidelines and semi-structured interviews.

Joined action of science and practice is required for future interventions. Future interventions should include topics relevant to the stage of adolescence and give greater focus to the complex social nature of obesity. Lastly, practitioners can generate more practice-based evidence by starting their own practice-based research.