Childhood obesity: map of schemes

There is considerable policy interest in the UK and internationally in tackling the problem of overweight and obesity in children and young people. However, assembling a picture of activity in this area has been problematic. We have now produced a report and associated searchable database which summarise those schemes in England for which we were able to obtain data. In order to be included in the database, schemes needed a primary focus on tackling overweight or obesity in school-age children (4-18 years) who were already overweight or obese, through dietary, exercise or other means. Included interventions had to be structured and sustained over a period of time. Our best estimate on the basis of data retrieved is that at any one time, between 314 and 375 schemes meeting our criteria are running in England. You can access the report and database here.

Childhood obesity: navigating reviews on social and environmental interventions

We have recently published a systematic map of reviews on ‘social and environmental interventions to reduce childhood obesity’. The map describes and appraises 54 reviews of research in this broad field, of which 32 were classified as systematic. There was much diversity in the focus of reviews, which covered: mass media campaigns to change the social values attached to food and exercise, encouraging walking and cycling through changes to the urban environment, taxation and pricing strategies to encourage healthy eating, point-of-sale marking to encourage healthy and low-fat eating, changes to the school built or social environment to encourage physical activity and healthy eating, and many multi-component interventions. This map of reviews will help researchers and policy-makers navigate the mass of existing review-level evidence in this wide-ranging field. It outlines gaps and areas of research activity in the field and will help decision-makers identify the best available secondary-level research for answering specific policy questions. The review is available on our website here.

Health inequalities, health promotion, and young people

In a recent systematic map we examined how much health promotion and public health research relating to young people has tackled health inequalities, and in what ways it has done this. Relatively few studies addressing inequalities also evaluate interventions. Even fewer evaluate interventions particularly promising for tackling inequalities: structural and environmental interventions, or interventions working through social networks. Inequalities between genders and ethnic groups, are the most frequently investigated, although often with little thought as to why or how differences might be important.

Many methods are used to measure socio-economic status, with little consistency across the literature. Most intervention evaluations recruit young people through schools or agencies such as social services, frequently excluding the most disadvantaged and disregarding those who drop out before the study is completed. Few studies involve young people or their parents actively in developing interventions or choosing what should be evaluated or how. Most intervention evaluations neither explicitly aim to reduce inequalities, nor conclude whether inequalities were increased. Further details and the full report can be accessed here.

Building on the findings of the systematic map described above, a second study, to be published in early 2009, reports the findings of a systematic review of the effectiveness of school-based interventions using cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for preventing depression amongst young people. We used this review as an example of how an ‘equity lens’ can be used to examine whether intervention effectiveness is influenced by socioeconomic status (SES) or other socio-demographic factors implicated in the emergence of health inequalities. If you would like to be notified when this report becomes available please contact EPPIadmin@ioe.ac.uk.

Including diverse groups of children and young people in research

For research to be credible, relevant and ethical it needs to reflect the diversity and multi-cultural nature of our society. This new report describes a framework for understanding diversity in research and the results of an in-depth analysis of research practice in 174 studies. The report had a focus on health promotion and public health research with children and young people but its key messages are relevant to research in all topics with a range of age groups. There were considerable discrepancies between the recommendations suggested by our framework and what goes on in research practice. For example, many studies did not provide sufficient socio-demographic detail to judge the nature of research samples, rationales for sample selection were often unclear, and few data collection tools appeared to be accessible to those not fluent or literate in English. The full report, which can be accessed here, contains several implications for researchers, research commissioners and journal editors regarding how socially diverse populations might be better reflected in research.

Targeted youth support - effective early interventions for youth at risk of future poor outcomes

Targeted Youth Support (TYS) is an initiative aimed at vulnerable young people and involves ensuring that agencies work together to meet young people’s needs.  For a project funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), we explored what works for young people in relation to the outcomes prioritised by the TYS initiative in order to inform policy and practice.  We found 57 systematic reviews about what works and have related these to the 29 risk and protective factors associated with the TYS outcomes that we identified.  Further details and the full report can be accessed here

Cochrane Public Health Group launched

Earlier this year the Cochrane Health Promotion and Public Health (HPPH) Field became the Cochrane Public Health Group (PHRG). The EPPI Centre had co-directorship of the former Field for many years. We had a key role in the transition of the field to the review group and we continue to have a close involvement with the work of the new group. Activities of the Public Health Review Group include producing and publishing Cochrane reviews of the effects of population-level public health interventions (policy, programs, legislation, community interventions) and identifying primary studies relevant to public health to contribute to the the Cochrane library databases. Reviews undertaken by the Group will generally be complex, multi-sectoral and include, for example, policies surrounding income distribution, education, public safety, housing, work environment, employment, social networks, food supply, transport and pollution. For further information visit the website of Public Health Review Group.

Partnering for your research

The EPPI Centre’s Health Promotion and Public Health reviews facility has collaborative relationships with individuals and organisations interested in using systematic research synthesis to inform policy and practice.  Collaboration may cover training in tools and methods, undertaking systematic reviews, setting up a review group or developing systematic research systems and methods.  The EPPI Centre’s web-based reviewing software, EPPI-Reviewer, is continually evolving to meet the needs of reviewers.  Some recent additions to the software include updated reference selection and screening pages with enhanced searching functions. A number of new report functions have been added including the addition of screening reports. An 'inductive coding' function has also been introduced allowing the user to create and assign codes to items dynamically, based on text entered as additional information in keywording or data extraction. This feature can be used for thematic analysis by building up descriptive and analytic themes. If you are interested in collaboration or using EPPI-Reviewer, email EPPIAdmin@ioe.ac.uk

Issue 6, December 2008

RESEARCH FINDINGS

• Childhood obesity: map of schemes
• Childhood obesity: navigating reviews on social and environmental interventions
• Health inequalities, health promotion and young people
• Including diverse groups of children and young people in research
• Targeted youth support - effective early interventions for youth at risk of future poor outcomes

ONGOING RESEARCH

• Children’s views on body size and weight
• Behavioural interventions to prevent STIs amongst young people
• Childhood obesity and educational attainment
• Obesity and sedentary activity in children and young people

RESEARCH RESOURCES

• Cochrane Public Health Group launched
• Partnering for your research

EVENTS

• MSc Evidence for Policy and Practice
• Short courses in systematic reviews and using research

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

• Methods for thematic synthesis
• RCTs for policy - review of reviews
• Attitudes to walking and cycling
• International encyclopedia of public health
• Cochrane Public Health Review Group

WORKING WITH US

• Can you help us identify studies on childhood obesity and education outcomes?
• Do you know of any unpublished studies on sedentary behaviour and obesity in children and young people?
• Handsearching for Cochrane reviews

The Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI Centre) is part of the Social Science Research Unit (SSRU) at the Institute of Education, University of London. The focus of the EPPI Centre’s work is on promoting systematic reviews of research evidence, on developing methods and tools for systematic appraisal of different research questions and different kinds of research studies, and on facilitating user involvement throughout the review and dissemination process.

 

The EPPI Centre currently works in the areas of health promotion and public health, education, social care and work and employment. Some reviews and methodological developments are undertaken by EPPI Centre staff. Others are done collaboratively with external organisations and individuals. The EPPI Centre is also contributing to the Economic and Social Research Council's National Centre for Research Methods, and is the home of the Methods for Research Synthesis programme.

Attitudes to walking and cycling

T Lorenc, G Brunton, S Oliver, K Oliver, and A Oakley (2008) Attitudes to walking and cycling among children, young people and parents: a systematic review. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 62: 852-857.  doi:10.1136/jech.2007.070250

Methods for thematic synthesis

Thomas J, Harden A (2008) Methods for the thematic synthesis of qualitative research in systematic reviews. BMC Medical Research Methodology 8: 45 doi:10.1186/1471-2288-8-45

RCTs for policy - review of reviews 

Oliver S, Bagnall AM, Thomas J, Shepherd J, Sowden A, White I, Dinnes J, Rees R, Colquitt J, Oliver K, Garrett Z (2008) RCTs for policy interventions? A review of reviews and meta-regression. Birmingham: University of Birmingham.  View the report here.

International encyclopedia of public health

Armstrong R, Waters E, Roberts H, Anderson L M, Oliver S and Petticrew M (2008) Systematic Reviews in Public Health. In: Heggenhougen K, Quah S (eds) International Encyclopedia of Public Health, Vol 6. San Diego: Academic Press, pages. 297-301.

Oliver S (2008). Public and consumer participation in policy and research. In: Heggenhougen K, and Quah S, (eds) International Encyclopedia of Public Health, Vol 5. San Diego: Academic Press,  pages 408-415.

Cochrane Public Health Review Group

Morgan M, Turley R, Kavanagh J, Armstrong R, Weightman A (2008) Developing a specialized register for the Public Health Review Group. Journal of Public Health, 30: 508-509. doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdn091

If you would like to be alerted about new issues of this newsletter, please send an email with "subscribe" in the subject line to: eppi.healthnewsletter@ioe.ac.uk Please state in the message whether you would prefer to receive the e-mails in HTML or plain text format.

To stop receiving alerts, please send an email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line to: eppi.healthnewsletter@ioe.ac.uk