Which outcome measurement instruments are used to measure core infant feeding outcomes in children up to 1 year of age? A scoping review protocol

Matvienko-Sikar, Karen; Adair, Linda; Bell, Lucinda K.; Birken, Catherine S.; Brown, Vicki; Dahly, Darren; Doherty, Ann S.; Golley, Rebecca; Leahy-Warren, Patricia; McBride, Marian; McCarthy, Elizabeth; Murphy, Andrew W.; Redsell, Sarah; Terwee, Caroline B.

Abstract

Background
How, what, and when infants are fed plays a role in the aetiology of childhood obesity. Heterogeneity in how infant feeding outcomes are measured in trials of interventions to prevent childhood obesity limits evidence syntheses and understanding of intervention effectiveness. An infant feeding core outcome set (COS) was previously developed to standardised outcome measurement and reporting. The COS represents what to measure; determining how best to measure these outcomes is the next essential step to improve intervention evaluations. The aim of this scoping review is therefore to identify what outcome measurement instruments have been used in trials, and how they have been used, to measure the core infant feeding outcomes.

Methods
A scoping review will be conducted. MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsychINFO, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, OpenGrey and GreyNet will be searched from inception. Papers areeligible for inclusion if they report trials involving primary data collection that measure and report at least one core infant feeding outcome in infants ≤one year of age. Following searching and screening, eligible studies will be categorised into the following four overarching categories for data extraction, synthesis and write-up: caregiver-related outcomes; diet-related outcomes; feeding environment outcomes; child weight outcomes. Data will be narratively described and presented in tabular format, with findings presented in four separate review papers delineated by the four overarching categories.

Discussion
This scoping review forms part of the Standardised measurement for Childhood Obesity Prevention (SCOPE) study (www.eiascope.com). Evidence from this scoping review on what measurement instruments are used, and how they are used, represents an essential first step in developing recommendations and guidance about how best to measure core infant feeding outcomes for childhood obesity prevention. This can improve evidence syntheses and understanding of what infant feeding interventions are most effective for childhood obesity prevention.

Citation

Matvienko-Sikar, K., Adair, L., Bell, L. K., Birken, C. S., Brown, V., Dahly, D., …Terwee, C. B. (2023). Which outcome measurement instruments are used to measure core infant feeding outcomes in children up to 1 year of age? A scoping review protocol. HRB Open Research, 6, Article 67. https://doi.org/10.12688/hrbopenres.13797.1

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 27, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Nov 27, 2023
• Publication Date: Nov 27, 2023
• Deposit Date: Dec 4, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 4, 2023
• Journal: HRB Open Research
• Print ISSN: 2515-4826
• Electronic ISSN: 2515-4826
• Publisher: F1000Research
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Article Number: 67
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.12688/hrbopenres.13797.1
• Keywords: Infant feeding, childhood obesity, measurement, evidence synthesis, scoping review, core outcome set
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/28136418
• Publisher URL: https://hrbopenresearch.org/articles/6-67
• Additional Information: Referee status: Awaiting Peer Review; Grant Information: Health Research Board (HRB EIA-2022-005) Emerging Investigator Award awarded to Karen Matvienko-Sikar. This work was also supported by the Centre of Research Excellence in Translating the Early Prevention of Obesity in Childhood (GNT2006999) where Rebecca Golley, Vicki Brown, Lucinda Bell, and Karen Matvienko-Sikar are researchers. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.; Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.