Table 1 Review inclusion and exclusion criteria
Criteria | Justification | |
|---|---|---|
Inclusion | Observational and experimental studies with a control or comparison group | We aimed to provide a thorough systematic review of recent literature. Though the quality of evidence will be lower for observational studies a detailed and transparent quality assessment of included studies was conducted. |
Participants within the specified age range of 10–19. | The review focuses on adolescents only. | |
Studies that report BMI and related outcomes with a pre and post-intervention comparison, baseline to follow up etc. | To identify interventions that bring about a change in outcomes | |
High-income countries | Differences in education systems, modes of delivery of interventions, cultural and contextual differences, co-existence of under-and over-nutrition could all affect the relevance and generalisability of the findings. The definitions for income groups for countries by World bank (2020) were used to exclude low and middle-income countries. | |
Interventions from year 2006 | High quality systematic reviews covered the evidence of school-based interventions up to 2006. We aimed to provide an updated account of interventions with focus on adolescents in school settings. | |
Exclusion | Studies that do not report change in BMI outcomes | Studies that aim to prevent obesity and overweight or reduce BMI were included. BMI outcomes (BMI, BMI z-score, change in prevalence of overweight and obesity) were selected as the outcomes for this review as an initial scoping search showed that BMI/ BMI Z score were most commonly reported in studies based in schools. BMI is also more feasible for assessment of students in schools. |
Papers published in a language other than English | Translation resources not available | |
Specific disease groups targeted (e.g. Diabetes and other endocrine disorders) Interventions targeting only students with overweight and/or obesity at baseline | The review aims to explore interventions with implications for the general population and targeted interventions for different conditions may require different strategies. |