Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 3, 2025
Use of a Video Scoring Anchor for Rapid Serial Assessment of Social Communication in Toddlers
Published on: March 14, 2018
Lifestyle Screening Tools for Children in the Community Setting: A Systematic Review
Anne Krijger1,2, Sovianne Ter Borg3, Liset Elstgeest2,4
1Department of Pediatrics and Pediatric Surgery, Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital, University Medical Center Rotterdam, 3000 CB Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Insights
Existing lifestyle screening tools for children lack validation and clear action plans. A validated, easy-to-use tool is needed to classify risks and guide interventions, preventing childhood health issues.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Public Health
- Lifestyle Medicine
Background:
- Childhood lifestyle factors, including nutrition, are crucial for preventing current and future health conditions.
- Screening tools assess various lifestyle factors, generating risk scores and guiding interventions.
- Lifestyle-related conditions in children necessitate effective screening and prevention strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review the design, psychometric properties, and implementation of lifestyle screening tools for children in community settings.
- To identify existing tools and evaluate their suitability for identifying children at risk of lifestyle-related conditions.
- To highlight gaps in current tools regarding validation and actionable implementation.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review of literature published between 2004 and July 2020.
- Searched Embase, Medline (PubMed), and CINAHL for lifestyle screening tools for children aged 0-18 years in community settings.
- Data extraction and qualitative analysis of 41 identified unique screening tools.
Main Results:
- The majority of the 41 identified tools focused on dietary and lifestyle behaviors related to overweight and obesity.
- Commonly addressed domains included nutrition, physical activity, and sedentary behavior/screen time.
- Limited tool validation and a lack of clear implementation features, such as actionable outcomes, were noted.
Conclusions:
- A significant number of lifestyle screening tools exist for children in community settings.
- There is a critical need for a validated, easy-to-administer tool that facilitates risk classification.
- Such a tool should provide specific, actionable recommendations to prevent adverse health outcomes in children.
Abstract:
Screening of children's lifestyle, including nutrition, may contribute to the prevention of lifestyle-related conditions in childhood and later in life. Screening tools can evaluate a wide variety of lifestyle factors, resulting in different (risk) scores and prospects of action. This systematic review aimed to summarise the design, psychometric properties and implementation of lifestyle screening tools for children in community settings. We searched the electronic databases of Embase, Medline (PubMed) and CINAHL to identify articles published between 2004 and July 2020 addressing lifestyle screening tools for children aged 0-18 years in the community setting. Independent screening and selection by two reviewers was followed by data extraction and the qualitative analysis of findings. We identified 41 unique lifestyle screening tools, with the majority addressing dietary and/or lifestyle behaviours and habits related to overweight and obesity. The domains mostly covered were nutrition, physical activity and sedentary behaviour/screen time. Tool validation was limited, and deliberate implementation features, such as the availability of clear prospects of actions following tool outcomes, were lacking. Despite the multitude of existing lifestyle screening tools for children in the community setting, there is a need for a validated easy-to-administer tool that enables risk classification and offers specific prospects of action to prevent children from adverse health outcomes.
