Improving obesity management training in family medicine: multi-methods evaluation of the 5AsT-MD pilot course

• Published in: BMC medical education 2020-01, Vol.20 (1), p.5-5, Article 5
• Main Authors: Luig, Thea, Wicklum, Sonja, Heatherington, Melanie, Vu, Albert, Cameron, Erin, Klein, Doug, Sharma, Arya M, Campbell-Scherer, Denise L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attitudes; Care and treatment; Counseling; Course Content; Education; Education, medical; Educational aspects; Educational Quality; Empathy; Evaluation study; Evidence-based medicine; Experiential learning; Family medicine; Health counseling; Management training; Medicine; Mental health; Methods; Narratives; Obesity; Patients; Pedagogy; Physicians; Prevention; Primary care; Primary Health Care; Questionnaires; Task forces; Teenagers; Weight control
• ISSN: 1472-6920; 1472-6920
• DOI: 10.1186/s12909-019-1908-0

Quality, evidence-based obesity management training for family medicine residents is needed to better support patients. To address this gap, we developed a comprehensive course based on the 5As of Obesity Management™ (ASK, ASSESS, ADVISE, AGREE, ASSIST), a framework and suite of resources to improve residents' knowledge and confidence in obesity counselling. This study assessed the course's impact on residents' attitudes, beliefs, and confidence with obesity counselling. The course combines lectures with a bariatric empathy suit experience, standardized and in-clinic patient practice, and narrative reflections. Using a multi-methods design we measured changes in 42 residents' attitudes, beliefs, and self-confidence and thematically analyzed the narrative reflections to understand residents' experience with the course content and pedagogy. Following the course, residents reported improved attitudes towards people living with obesity and improved confidence for obesity counselling. Pre/post improvement in BAOP scores (n = 32) were significant (p