Primary care patient and practitioner views of weight and weight-related discussion : a mixed methods study
Date
09/03/2020Metadata
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Abstract
Objective To understand the beliefs that primary care practitioners (PCPs) and patients with overweight and obesity have about obesity and primary care weight management in Scotland. Setting Seven National Health Service (NHS) Scotland primary care centres. Participants A total of 305 patients and 14 PCPs (12 general practitioners; two practice nurses) participated. Design and methodology A cross-sectional mixed-methods study. PCPs and patients completed questionnaires assessing beliefs about obesity and primary care weight communication and management. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with PCPs to elaborate on questionnaire topics. Quantitative and qualitative data were synthesised to address study objectives. Results (1) Many patients with overweight and obesity did not accurately perceive their weight or risk of developing weight-related health issues; (2) PCPs and patients reported behavioural factors as the most important cause of obesity, and medical factors as the most important consequence; (3) PCPs perceive their role in weight management as awareness raising and signposting, not prevention or weight monitoring; (4) PCPs identify structural and patient-related factors as barriers to weight communication and management, but not PCP factors. Conclusions Incongruent and/or inaccurate beliefs held by PCPs and patient may present barriers to effective weight discussion and management in primary care. There is a need to review, standardise and clarify primary care weight management processes in Scotland. Acknowledging a shared responsibility for obesity as a disease may improve outcomes for patients with overweight and obesity.
Citation
McHale , C T , Laidlaw , A H & Cecil , J E 2020 , ' Primary care patient and practitioner views of weight and weight-related discussion : a mixed methods study ' , BMJ Open , vol. 10 , no. 3 , e034023 . https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-034023
Publication
BMJ Open
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2044-6055Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
Description
Funding: University of St Andrews 600th Anniversary PhD Scholarship.Collections
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