Innovative Approaches to Childhood Obesity Prevention: Behavioral, Environmental and Digital Health Strategies
A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032). This special issue belongs to the section "Women’s and Children’s Health".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 December 2026 | Viewed by 27
Special Issue Editors
Interests: family-centered health promotion and education; preventive medicine; community and clinical integration; lifestyle medicine
Interests: maternal and child health; childhood obesity prevention; nutrition and dietary behaviors; caregiver feeding practices; health behavior theory; school health, health behaviors and outcomes; community-based and digital health interventions in early childhood settings
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Childhood obesity remains one of the most pressing global public health challenges, with consequences that extend across the course of life and disproportionately affect socially and economically disadvantaged populations. Despite decades of research, traditional prevention strategies have yielded modest and uneven results, highlighting the need for innovative, multi-level approaches that address behavioral, environmental, and technological determinants of health.
This Special Issue aims to advance the science of childhood obesity prevention by showcasing interdisciplinary research that integrates behavioral theory, family and community contexts, early childhood environments, and emerging digital health technologies. The topic aligns closely with the scope of Healthcare, which emphasizes population health, preventive strategies, health promotion, and innovative interventions across healthcare and community settings.
We welcome original research articles, systematic or narrative reviews, and methodological papers examining novel interventions, policy-relevant evidence, and implementation strategies. Suggested themes include, but are not limited to, the following: caregiver feeding practices, early childhood education and care environments, school health, culturally responsive nutrition interventions, technology-enhanced health education (e.g., mobile health, virtual reality), and multi-level frameworks for obesity prevention.
We look forward to receiving your valuable contributions.
Dr. Alia Dawlat Ghoneum
Guest Editor
Dr. Qutaibah Oudat
Guest Editor Assistant
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- childhood obesity prevention
- maternal and child health
- feeding practices
- nutrition education
- early childhood environments
- digital health interventions
- virtual reality in health promotion
- community-based prevention
- health behavior theory
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