Management of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents by nurses: a mixed-method study

to analyze the management of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents by nurses of the Family Health Strategy.

this is a study of convergent parallel mixed methods, developed in Health Centers of a municipality in northeastern Brazil. In the quantitative stage, data were collected from a questionnaire applied to 98 nurses and analyzed by descriptive statistics. For the qualitative stage, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven nurses, interpreted by inductive thematic analysis. The quantitative and qualitative results were integrated and presented by a joint display.

most nurses rarely checked waist circumference (77.6%), dyslipidemia (55.7%), blood glucose (42.3%), and neither evaluated blood pressure (75.3%). In the qualitative results, we identified that there are nurses who did not classify body mass index according to sex and age. As for medical tests, the requests were mainly related to the routine of childcare. Guidance on physical activity and diet were given in a basic way or attributed to other professionals, and referrals to other services or professionals were not followed up.

it is imperative to train nurses for the management of overweight and obesity in primary care for children and adolescents, with a view to quality of care for the prevention of comorbidities.

(1) There are weaknesses in the management of obesity in children and adolescents by nurses. (2) A mixed method was adopted, which is new and has understanding and inference in a single study. (3) The study suggests the development of specific protocols for nurses. (4) The research suggests continuing education actions for nurses. (5) With proper management, it will be possible to reduce this morbidity and comorbidities.