Logo image
Involvement of Local Health Departments in Obesity Prevention: A Scoping Review
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Involvement of Local Health Departments in Obesity Prevention: A Scoping Review

Anna Petrovskis, Barbara Baquero and Betty Bekemeier
Journal of public health management and practice, Vol.28(2), pp.E345-E353
03/01/2022
DOI: 10.1097/PHH.0000000000001346
PMCID: PMC8781226
PMID: 33729187
url
https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0000000000001346View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Introduction: Local health department (LHD) obesity prevention (OP) efforts, particularly by rural LHDs, are seemingly uncommon, in part, due to limited infrastructure, workforce capacity, accessible data, and available population-level interventions aimed at social determinants of health (SDOH). Methods: We conducted a scoping review to determine LHD roles in OP efforts and interventions. Inclusion criteria were articles including evidence-based OP and LHD leaders or staff. Articles were coded by type of LHD involvement, data use, intervention characteristics, use of an SDOH lens, and urban or rural setting. Results: We found 154 articles on LHD OP-52 articles met inclusion criteria. Typically, LHDs engaged in only surveillance, initial intervention development, or evaluation and were not LHD led. Data and SDOH lens use were infrequent, and interventions typically took place in urban settings. Conclusion: LHDs could likely play a greater role in OP and population-level interventions and use data in intervention decision making. However, literature is limited. Future research should focus on LHD capacity building, including academic-public health partnerships. Studies should include rural populations, data, and SDOH frameworks addressing "upstream" factors.
Life Sciences & Biomedicine Public, Environmental & Occupational Health Science & Technology

Details

Metrics

Logo image