Changing health behaviour of young women from disadvantaged backgrounds: evidence from systematic reviews

Abstract

Observational evidence suggests that improving the diets of women of child-bearing age from disadvantaged backgrounds might be an important component of public health strategies aimed at reducing the burden of chronic disease in their offspring. The development of an intervention to improve the nutrition of young women needs to be informed by a systematic collation of evidence. Such a systematic collation of evidence from systematic reviews of interventions directed at changing health behaviours including diet, breast-feeding, physical activity and smoking has been conducted. Of 1847 potentially-relevant abstracts, fourteen systematic reviews met inclusion criteria. Four aspects of intervention design were identified that were effective at changing one or more of the health behaviours considered in the present review: the use of an educational component; provision of continued support after the initial intervention; family involvement; social support from peers or lay health workers. The findings of the present review suggest that interventions to change the health behaviour of women of childbearing age from disadvantaged backgrounds will require an educational approach and should provide continued support after the initial intervention. Family involvement and social support from peers may also be important features of interventions that aim to improve diet.Health behaviour interventions: Disadvantaged young women: Systematic review of evidence:Maternal nutritionThe nutritional status of mothers is an important determinant of the growth and well-being of their offspring (1) . Maternal diet and nutrition influence growth and development of the baby during pregnancy and in postnatal life, and growth and development at these stages will influence risk of chronic disease later in life.Women from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to have poor diets. Studies of women taking part in the Southampton Women's Survey, a population-based study of women aged 20-34 years (2) , have demonstrated that women of lower educational attainment have lesshealthy dietary patterns (3) . There is also evidence that infants born to mothers of lower educational attainment are less likely to have healthy diets; of mothers participating in the Southampton Women's Survey who became pregnant, those with less-healthy diets were also found to be less likely to follow guidance on infant feeding (3) . Associations between maternal nutrition and infant growth and development suggest that improving the diets of women of child-bearing age from disadvantaged backgrounds might be an important component of public health strategies aimed at improving diet and reducing the burden of chronic disease in their offspring, as well as improving the health, nutrition and well-being of women themselves.The development of an intervention to improve young women's nutrition needs to be informed by a systematic collation of evidence; the first step in designing a complex public health intervention (4) . The present paper describes the collation of evidence fr...

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