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.