Gender-sensitive community weight-loss programmes to address overweight and obesity in men: A scoping review

Objectives: To examine how gender-sensitive community weight-loss programmes have been used to address overweight and obesity in men and to identify what can be learnt from this rapidly evolving field. Design: Scoping review following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping review checklist for reporting. Data sources A database search was conducted using EBSCOhost (Academic Search Complete, CINAHL Complete, Global Health, Health Source: Consumer Edition, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition and Medline Complete), Google, Google Scholar, Open Access Theses and Dissertations platform and Scopus. Eligibility criteria: All weight-loss programmes using a gender-sensitive approach to address men's overweight and obesity in community settings. Data extraction and synthesis: Narrative synthesis was conducted based on the research questions and objectives. Primary outcomes include operationalisation, context and concept of the gender-sensitive approach. Information was reviewed and extracted to Microsoft Excel by two reviewers. Results: A total of 40 studies (28 quantitative, eight mixed methods and four qualitative) were identified from 4617 records. Gender-sensitive approaches were undertaken in a range of settings and contexts including professional sports clubs (n=21), non-professional sporting clubs (n=16), workplace-based (n=2) and commercial organisation-based (n=1). The most common analysis approaches were evaluating the effect of the programmes (n=31) where positive impact was predominantly shown (eg, up to 3.9 kg weight reduction at 3-month follow-up). Programmes (ie, Football Fans in Training) were short-term cost-effective (eg, the cost was £862-£2228 per 5% weight reduction at 12-month follow-up). Qualitative evidence highlights factors that influenced men's participation (eg, camaraderie) and identifies areas for improvement. Conclusion: The findings demonstrate that gender-sensitive programmes for men's weight loss have been effectively applied using a range of different approaches and in a range of different contexts. Further evidence is needed to confirm the effectiveness of the programmes across diverse groups of men.