An international panel of experts in areas of relevance to obesity provided guidance for the study. This synthesis research encompassed a comprehensive search of medical/academic and grey literature and the Internet covering the years 1982–2003. The appraisal approach developed to identify best practice was unique, in that it considered not only methodological rigour, but also population health, immigrant health and programme development/evaluation perspectives in the assessment. Scores were generated based on pre-determined criteria with programmes scoring in the top tertile of the scoring range in any one of the four appraisal categories included for further examination. The synthesis process included identification of gaps and an analysis and summary of.
