Training program for overweight prevention in the child's first year: compilation and results

Abstract

The current local overweight-prevention protocols are not applied as intended by Dutch child healthcare physicians and nurses. The development of a training program for these practitioners, based on the Intervention Mapping framework, with the aim of improving overweight-prevention in a child's first year, is described in this study. The needs assessment showed three program objectives to be relevant, namely improving: (i) awareness of the importance of early overweight-prevention; (ii) the competence to discuss (the risk of) overweight with parents; and (iii) working systematically according to the overweight-prevention protocol. A matrix was then created specifying the program objectives in terms of personal learning objectives and environmental change objectives, and appropriate strategies were identified. The results suggested that a more active tailored and structured change strategy improves knowledge and skills, in particular, which results in a better overall implementation of the overweight-prevention protocol. This training program should help providers understand how the implementation of a protocol, such as the overweight-prevention protocol, can be improved. Using the Intervention Mapping framework for systematic protocol implementation seems a valuable option.

Keywords: child healthcare practitioner; overweight-prevention; the Netherlands; training program.