Community Readiness as a Prerequisite for Childhood Obesity Prevention Programs: A Scoping Review

The stage of community readiness to make changes or accept childhood obesity prevention programs has an essential role in the eventual success and sustainability of such programs. The current study aims to review the background of community readiness and investigate its importance in planning and implementing childhood obesity prevention programs.

The literature search in this scoping review was conducted in English databases, including PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. The keywords were “community-based study," “community readiness," “community preparedness," “community readiness model," “childhood obesity,” and “prevention program." Finally, 36 studies were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria.

The community readiness model (CRM) is the most frequently used conceptual framework for assessing the community’s readiness for a specific issue or problem. Studies have shown that cross-sectional community readiness assessment is a common tool in community-based childhood obesity prevention programs. It is also shown that findings on readiness in childhood obesity prevention interventions have been used with three main objectives including assessing intervention effectiveness, providing evidence-based planning services to adopt appropriate strategies and actions, and identifying community capacity and its changes.

Assessing the stage of community readiness before developing lifestyle interventions, to prevent and control childhood obesity and conduct appropriate interventions for its improvement, is critical for the potential success and effectiveness of such interventions.