A systematic review of SNAPO (Smoking, Nutrition, Alcohol, Physical activity and Obesity) randomized controlled trials in young adult men

Abstract

Despite preliminary evidence of short-term effectiveness of SNAPO interventions in young men, few studies characterized by a high risk of bias were identified. High quality SNAPO interventions for young men are warranted.

Feasibility and preliminary efficacy of the ‘HEYMAN’ healthy lifestyle program for young men: a pilot randomised controlled trial

“…Challenges associated with recruiting young men have been widely acknowledged and explain the scarcity of lifestyle behaviour interventions in this population group [24]. The current study was successful in recruiting 50 young men over a seven-week period.…”

“…Formative research with young men was conducted to identify perceived motivators and barriers for healthy eating and physical activity [17, 35] and to identify their preferences for intervention content and delivery medium [36]. In addition, the program was informed by best practice guidelines for diet [37] and physical activity [38], theoretical guidelines from an integrated framework of Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) [39] and Self Determination Theory (SDT) [40], and evidence from effective health-related interventions in this population [23, 24]. See Additional file 1 for a full list of HEYMAN components and their alignment with the participatory responses from the formative work and with behaviours change strategies from SCT and/or SDT.…”

“…Difficulties associated with recruitment and retention may explain why young men are under-represented in health programs and why there is a lack of evidence to guide development of effective health-related interventions for young men [23, 24]. The current evidence base is predominantly made up of health-related interventions that include both sexes [23] and all ages [25, 26], but the heterogeneity in psychological, social, and physical differences between sexes and age groups, highlight the need for gender and age-specific health research and behavioural programs [27].…”

“…The current evidence base is predominantly made up of health-related interventions that include both sexes [23] and all ages [25, 26], but the heterogeneity in psychological, social, and physical differences between sexes and age groups, highlight the need for gender and age-specific health research and behavioural programs [27]. A recent systematic review of SNAPO (Smoking, Nutrition, Alcohol, Physical activity or Obesity) interventions in exclusively young men [24] found few interventions targeting young men ( n  = 10) and over half (6 out of 10) demonstrated significant positive short-term intervention effects. However, the review highlighted various limitations of studies including; only short-term outcomes reported, high risk of bias and difficulties in reaching and/or retaining this population group.…”

“…As there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of health-related interventions in young men [24], a detailed process evaluation may help to identify and understand participants views of the program, how participants engage with and use the different intervention components and which treatment modalities are feasible and acceptable to young men [28]. In particular, process evaluation results can provide valuable insights into why an intervention fails or has unexpected outcomes or unintended consequences, or why a successful intervention works and how it can be optimised for a future RCT [29].…”