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  • Pediatric Review
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Contribution of social marketing strategies to community-based obesity prevention programmes in children

International Journal of Obesity volume 35, pages 472–479 (2011)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objectives:

To review child and adolescent obesity prevention programmes to determine whether they have included the Social Marketing Benchmark Criteria (BC). In addition, we analysed whether there was a relationship between the presence of the criteria and the effectiveness of the programme.

Methods:

Interventions had to be aimed at preventing obesity through behaviour changes relating to diet, physical activity, lifestyle and social support, separately or in combination. A total of 41 interventions were identified in PubMed and Embase that fulfilled the inclusion criteria.

Results:

The more recent the studies, the greater the number of the BC that seem to have been used. However, regarding behaviour changes, we found the most effective period to be 1997–2002, with 100% of the interventions resulting in behaviour changes (9/9). In addition, almost all interventions resulted in improvements in body composition variables: 5 of 6 for body mass index or overweight/obesity prevalence and 6 of 6 for skin-folds.

Conclusions:

The presence of a higher number of BC does not assure higher effectiveness. Further research is required in this field. At the moment, studies aimed at preventing obesity in children and adolescents have not included social marketing aspects in their interventions in a comprehensive manner.

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Acknowledgements

EPODE European Network Study Group: Zaragoza University (Spain), Proteines (France), Free University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Gent University (Belgium), Lille 2 University (France) and Fleurbaix Laventie Ville Santé NGO (France). Grants: Directorate General for Health and Consumers (European Commission, Agreement 2007 327). EEN Private Partners: Ferrero International, Mars, Nestlé S.A, Orangina-Schweppes Group.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GENUD ‘Growth, Exercise, Nutrition and Development’ Research Group, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

    L Gracia-Marco, G Vicente-Rodríguez & L A Moreno

  2. Department of Physiotherapy and Nursing, School of Health Science (EUCS), Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

    L Gracia-Marco & L A Moreno

  3. Department of Physiotherapy and Nursing, Faculty of Health and Sport Science (FCSD), Universidad de Zaragoza, Huesca, Spain

    G Vicente-Rodríguez

  4. EPODE European Network Coordinating Team, Proteines, Paris, France

    J M Borys & Y Le Bodo

  5. UWA Business School, University of Western Australia, Australia

    S Pettigrew

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  1. L Gracia-Marco
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Correspondence to L Gracia-Marco.

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Gracia-Marco, L., Vicente-Rodríguez, G., Borys, J. et al. Contribution of social marketing strategies to community-based obesity prevention programmes in children. Int J Obes 35, 472–479 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2010.221

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