Medical Student Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States
Background: Pediatric obesity has steadily increased in prevalence, yet there remains a paucity of evidence-based programs for youth and families. Effective pediatric weight management programs require a broader approach to ensure healthy behavior change, including: involvement of multidisciplinary teams, parent/family involvement, and long-term follow-up.
Attrition from multidisciplinary programs remains exceedingly high, which may be attributed to social determinants of health, logistical barriers, and/or a disconnect between treatments offered and patient expectations/needs. Despite high reported participant satisfaction, high attrition rates demonstrate the need for a deeper understanding of the unique experience of children and families participating in pediatric weight management programs. Objective: Systematically review the literature on patient and family experiences in pediatric weight management programs, in order to synthesize existing knowledge to aid with continued development and improvement of effective pediatric weight management programs. The ultimate goal is to help close the gap between high attrition rates and reported satisfaction seen in multidisciplinary programs. Design/Methods: Literature from 1990-August 2022 was searched in three databases (Pubmed, Web of Science, Embase). Inclusion criteria: articles published in English, participants 0-18 years of age, focused on pediatric obesity treatment, and reported perspectives of participating children and/or parents. Qualitative and quantitative studies were included; studies will be evaluated and summarized separately. Covidence software was utilized to review titles/abstracts (n=724; 1 reviewer) and full text (n=74; 2 reviewers). Thirty articles met inclusion criteria. Quality assessment (Strobe’s checklist) and data extraction will be completed by the end of December 2023 by two reviewers. Data analysis is projected to be completed by February 2024. Due to the methodology of the present study, IRB approval was not necessitated.
