Randomized Trials of Nurse-Delivered Interventions in Weight Management Research: A Systematic Review.
Lucine Petit Francis, Erin Spaulding, Ruth-Alma Turkson-Ocran and 1 others
PMID 28322648WHAT IT FOUND
Nurse-delivered weight programs helped some patients lose weight or lower BMI, but results were mixed.
Sixty-five percent of studies found significant reductions, seven found none, and follow-up showed benefit in only three of nine studies.
Key findings
01Nurse-delivered weight management trials produced mixed results: 65% of studies reported significant BMI or weight reduction, while seven studies found no significant findings.
02Nurses working alone were effective in reducing BMI or weight in 64% of nurse-only intervention studies; in multidisciplinary teams, seven of nine studies showed significant reduction and five showed between-group differences.
03Maintenance was less certain: three of nine studies with follow-up reported significant weight loss between groups, and one study lost significance in year three when counseling visits decreased.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only English-language studies were included, so non-English trials may be missing. Nurse-delivered interventions were often embedded in multidisciplinary teams, so the review cannot isolate the effect of the nurse component. Some null results may reflect the intervention design rather than nurse delivery. Follow-up was inconsistent: nine studies reported follow-up, and only three found significant weight loss. Subgroup evidence was sparse: only three studies reported results by sex and one reported results by age category.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to this review, authorship, and publication of this article.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that nurse-delivered weight management reliably produces lasting weight loss. Sixty-five percent of studies reported significant BMI or weight reduction, but seven studies found no significant findings, and follow-up evidence was limited to three significant studies out of nine. In multidisciplinary teams, the nurse contribution cannot be separated.