Community gardening, community farming and other local community-based gardening interventions to prevent overweight and obesity in high-income and middle-income countries: protocol for a systematic review

Abstract

IntroductionThe worldwide prevalence of overweight/obesity has continued to rise over the last decades. To reverse this trend, public health authorities are exploring cost-effective interventions, especially in high-income and middle-income countries. Community gardening offers a unique opportunity for individuals to enhance physical activity levels and improve their diet. However, synthesised evidence on the short-term or long-term effectiveness and on the costs of community gardening interventions to prevent overweight/obesity remains limited. Therefore, this review will investigate: (1) the effectiveness of voluntary participation in community gardening compared with no or a control intervention on overweight/obesity and associated health outcomes, (2) effects on different subgroups of populations and (3) the costs of community gardening interventions.Methods and analysisWe will conduct a systematic review, limited to evaluations of community gardening interventions with controlled quantitative and interrupted time series designs. To identify relevant articles, we will systematically search 12 academic and 5 grey literature databases, as well as 2 trial registers and 6 websites. Articles will then be assessed for eligibility based on a predefined set of criteria. At least two independent reviewers will assess each article for relevance, before evaluating the methodological quality and potential bias of the studies. Data relevant to the objectives of this review will be extracted and cross-validated. Any disagreements will be mediated by a third reviewer. If feasible, meta-analyses of primary outcomes (overweight/obesity, physical activity, food intake, energy intake) will be conducted. We will use the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation method to assess the overall quality of evidence.Ethics and disseminationFor this review, no ethical approval is required as we will only extract and analyse secondary data. We aim to submit the final review manuscript to an open access journal for publication and disseminate results via conferences and social media.Trial registration numberInternational Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO)(CRD42017043696).

Residential green space, gardening, and subjective well-being: A cross-sectional study of garden owners in northern Belgium

“…Earlier literature on gardens focused mainly on communal and allotment gardens [gardening on public or semi-public land e.g. van den Heise et al, 2017;Soga, Cox et al, 2017] or horticultural therapy [gardening or other plant-based activities as a treatment for mental health issues e.g. Gonzalez, Hartig, Patil, Martinsen, & Kirkevold, 2010;Adevi & Martensson, 2013].…”

Use of the GRADE approach in health policymaking and evaluation: a scoping review of nutrition and physical activity policies

“…GRADE Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation, RCT randomized controlled trial, GRADE-ADOLOPMENT GRADE Evidence to Decision frameworks for adoption, adaptation, and de novo development of trustworthy recommendations documents applied the GRADE approach for grading the certainty of evidence for PEN-related outcomes (for instance, increase of physical activity, change of body-mass index (BMI), and sugar or salt intake) (see Table 3). The remaining 14 documents were either systematic review protocols (n = 8, [26,33,35,36,40,44,48,50]) where GRADE will be used for grading the certainty of evidence, one recommendation to guide policymaking which used GRADE-ADOLOPMENT (GRADE Evidence to Decision frameworks for adoption, adaptation, and de novo development of trustworthy recommendations) (n = 1, [47]), documents in which GRADE was used on another development stage of the document (i.e., recommendations where GRADE ratings of included systematic reviews were evaluated, n = 2, [52,53]), or documents in which the barriers against the use of GRADE were stated (n = 3, [30,32,42]) (see Table 4). Table 3 shows the ratings of the certainty of evidence for all PEN-related outcomes for each study (max.…”

Roof-Harvested Rainwater Use in Household Agriculture: Contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals

“…In the republic of Nauru in the Pacific, this is exactly what has happened as populations have shifted towards purchasing cheap imported food and away from producing their own, resulting in high levels of obesity and diabetes [67]. HA in itself also provides a medium for physical activity [68] and is often prescribed for therapeutic and mental health benefits, as well as for its use in the treatment of obesity [69]. Whilst providing nutrition, it can also help in educating children about nutrition [70,71], and it is increasingly forming part of the educational curriculum [72].…”