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Development of a core outcome set for school-based intervention studies on preventing childhood overweight and

Lotte W de Vries¹, Deirdre Harrington^2,3, Iris Grooten⁴

¹Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Public Health research institute, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

|July 14, 2022

Insights

This study outlines a protocol to develop a core outcome set (COS) for childhood overweight prevention interventions in schools. This will standardize outcome measurement for better evidence synthesis in child obesity research.

Area of Science:

Pediatric Public Health
Evidence Synthesis
Intervention Research

Background:

Childhood overweight is a significant public health concern.
Evaluating school-based interventions is challenging due to diverse outcome measures.
A standardized core outcome set (COS) is needed for effective evidence synthesis.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a core outcome set (COS) for school-based interventions targeting childhood overweight prevention.
To establish consensus on essential outcomes for research and practice.

Main Methods:

A scoping review will identify existing outcomes in school-based overweight prevention studies.
Child focus groups will gather perspectives on important outcomes.
An expert panel will refine unique outcomes.
A Delphi study with international stakeholders will achieve consensus on the COS.

Main Results:

The protocol details a multi-phase approach involving literature review, qualitative data collection, expert consensus, and stakeholder Delphi study.
The process aims to identify and define a comprehensive yet manageable set of outcomes relevant to childhood overweight prevention.

Conclusions:

The developed protocol provides a robust framework for creating a much-needed core outcome set.
This COS will enhance the comparability and synthesis of evidence from school-based childhood overweight prevention interventions.

Read full analysis

Abstract

Introduction:

Prevention of childhood overweight is an important health priority. Evidence synthesis from studies evaluating school-based overweight preventive interventions is hampered by the wealth of different outcomes across studies. Therefore, consensus on a core set of outcomes for school-based overweight prevention studies is needed. This paper presents the protocol for the development of a core outcome set (COS) for school-based intervention studies aimed at childhood overweight prevention.

Methods And Analysis:

First, a scoping review will be performed to identify outcomes included in studies evaluating school-based overweight prevention interventions in 6-12 year-old children. Additionally, child focus groups will be organised in three countries to list the outcomes children consider important in school-based interventions. Next, an expert panel will identify all unique outcomes (eg, body composition) from the results of the scoping review and focus groups, ruling out how outcomes were defined and measured (eg, body mass index, body fat). In the next phase, a group of international stakeholders will participate in a Delphi study in which they will rate all unique outcomes on a 9-point Likert scale over three rounds to reach consensus on a COS. Participants will include healthcare professionals, policymakers, teachers, school leaders and parents of 6-12 year-olds. All rated outcomes will be presented to stakeholders in two online consensus meetings.

Ethics And Dissemination:

The Medical Ethics Committee of the VU Medical Center approved the child focus group study in the Netherlands (nr. 2020.071) and the Delphi study-including the consensus meeting (nr. 2022.0295). Other sites will obtain ethics approval for focus groups in their country. The University of Strathclyde School of Psychological Sciences ethics committee approved the Delphi study-including consensus meeting (nr. 72.27.04.2022 .A). The final COS will be disseminated through the diverse networks of all authors and participants.

Trial Registration Number:

This COS initiative is registered with the Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness initiative (registration nr. 971).

Keywords:

Community child health PREVENTIVE MEDICINE PUBLIC HEALTH

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