Childhood obesity has become a national epidemic and has gained notoriety as a public health issue. The treatment and prevention of childhood obesity has become a health priority due to the impact of obesity on acute and chronic disease, general health, development and overall well-being of children. The school environment is an ideal setting for implementation of obesity prevention programs where children and adolescents can learn healthy eating and engage in physical activity. However, many school-based programs have been found to have minimal or no impact on the adiposity of children. This paper examines the literature of school-based obesity prevention programs and the role that the school nurse has in the implementation of these school-based programs. There is an abundance of programs designed to decrease or prevent weight gain in children and adolescents. These include: (a) cardiovascular disease prevention programs that target obesity along with other risk factors for cardiovascular disease, (b) programs that focus on the prevention of obesity and weight gain, (c) interventions designed to increase physical activity, and (d) eating disorder prevention programs that promote healthy eating and weight management skills (Stice, Shaw & Marti, 2006). This review examines new evidence published in the last ten years with a specific look at school nurse-directed obesity prevention interventions. Key findings from the review include (1) schools face a challenging task implementing activities that have a meaningful impact on child and adolescent obesity trends; (2) adoption of current, evidence-based approaches pose challenges to the schools in time, resources, and training; and (3) there is insufficient evidence to know the full impact of school nurse directed obesity prevention programs. Tackling this issue will require a dedicated and coordinated effort that includes the school, family, and community involvement. Acknowledging this growing public health problem will require schools to identify those students at risk for overweight and obesity and identification will require annual body measurements to include BMI. The school nurse is positioned to provide the coordination needed to make positive changes in childhood obesity. The schools will also need to have resources available to provide referrals for follow-up health-care services for those identified children and the school nurse will need to adopt the role of the liaison between the family and the health care community. Keywords: child, childhood, youth, obesity, overweight, school nurse, school health nurse, and evaluationMaster of Public Healt
