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School nurses improve facilitation of obesity interventions for students
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School-based obesity interventions that included school nurses resulted in positive BMI outcomes for students, according to recent research in the Journal of School Health.
“One potential means of implementing effective school-based interventions is to involve school nurses,” Arlene Smaldone, PhD, CPNP, assistant dean of scholarship and research at Columbia University School of Nursing, and colleagues wrote. “Our findings demonstrate that school-based interventions that involve nurses led to small but significant decreases in BMI, BMIz and BMI percentile.”
The researchers conducted a systematic review (n = 11) and meta-analysis (n = 8) of studies to determine the effect that interventions by school nurses had on students’ BMI. School-based obesity intervention studies were included if they were experimental or quasi-experimental, reported body weight or BMI, conducted in an elementary, middle or high school setting and included a school nurse in a significant capacity. Intervention components included parent education, parent counseling, staff education, physical activity, student education, student counseling and after-school activity.
Smaldone and colleagues determined through pooled analysis that school-based obesity interventions involving school nurses significantly decreased BMI results. The researchers found slight pooled declines in BMI (–0.48; 95% CI, –0.84 to –0.12), BMIz (–0.1; 95% CI, –0.15 to –0.05) and BMI percentile (–0.41; 95% CI, –0.6 to –0.21).
“Because our review demonstrated effectiveness of school-based obesity interventions that involve nurses, schools can feel confident in providing school nurses with the necessary resources to implement obesity programs,” Smaldone and colleagues wrote. “In doing so, schools are supporting development of sustainable, effective interventions that can promote child health and healthy body weight for their students.” – by David Costill
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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