Involving community members in designing behavioural weight management programmes: a scoping review.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Services Research
• Community Engagement

Background:

• Community involvement in health program development enhances intervention effectiveness.
• Scoping review to understand community member contributions to Behavioural Weight Management Programmes (BWMPs).
• Explores various terms for community involvement like co-design and Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the stages of community involvement in BWMP development.
• To determine the level of community involvement (e.g., leading, collaborating).
• To provide examples of how community members participated.

Main Methods:

• Searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL databases (2010-2023).
• Two authors independently screened papers and extracted data on study characteristics, and stages, levels, and methods of community involvement.
• Included 58 BWMPs reported across 91 papers, primarily from the US.

Main Results:

• Community members initiated 36% of BWMPs, often adapting existing interventions (57%).
• Highest involvement was in planning (55% collaborators, 9% leaders); lower in delivery (33% collaborators, 16% leaders) and rare in evaluation (24% collaborators, 0% leaders).
• Adaptations included language, menus, format, activity, and personnel; cost and duration of involvement were poorly reported.

Conclusions:

• Substantial community leadership/collaboration in BWMP planning, but less in delivery and rarely in evaluation.
• Increased community involvement in evaluation is crucial for program relevance.
• Improved reporting on the costs and duration of community involvement is necessary for shared learning.