Implementation of a School Nurse-led Intervention for Children With Severe Obesity in New York City Schools.
Krista Schroeder, Haomiao Jia, Y Claire Wang and 1 others
PMID 28728763WHAT IT FOUND
A school nurse-led obesity program reached 1,054 of 20,518 eligible children, with most attending one session and parents attending 3.2% of sessions.
BMI tracking was the most common activity; health education and goal setting were less frequent.
Key findings
01Of 20,518 eligible children, 1,054 (5.1%) enrolled in HOP; participants attended a median of 1 session, and parents attended 3.2% of sessions.
02Most sessions included only one HOP component: BMI measurement and tracking occurred in 92.2% of sessions, health education in 44.9%, and goal setting in 18.2%.
03Enrollment was more likely in schools with lower poverty and lower nurse workload, and less likely among children with lower BMI percentile, no comorbid chronic illness, or lower grade.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Retrospective secondary data from school health records; data quality and collection methods varied, and the records were not created to evaluate HOP. The evaluation reported implementation measures, not clinical outcomes, so it cannot show whether HOP improved health or health behaviors. Enrollment was low and parent attendance was rare, so the findings reflect a program that reached few eligible children. The setting was one large urban school district in New York City, so results may not apply to other schools. Session duration, nurse experience, school size, and fidelity were not available, so the study cannot explain why content varied. Associations with enrollment are observational; they do not prove that nurse workload, poverty, BMI, chronic illness, or grade caused enrollment.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not report funding or conflict-of-interest declarations. It states that HOP was created by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that HOP improves severe obesity or child health. This paper reports implementation only: enrollment, session content, and parent attendance. It did not report clinical outcomes or compare HOP with another treatment.