Applying motivational interviewing to counselling overweight and obese children

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify barriers and facilitators to nurses' application of motivational interviewing (MI) to counselling overweight and obese children aged 5 and 7 years, accompanied by their parents. Ten welfare centre and school health service nurses trained and practiced MI for 6 months, then participated in focus group interviews concerning their experiences with applying MI to counselling overweight and obese children. Important barriers were nurses' lack of recognition that overweight and obesity among children constitute a health problem, problem ambivalence among nurses who felt that children's weight might be a problem although there was no immediate motivation to do anything and parents who the nurses believed were unmotivated to deal with their children's weight problem. Facilitators included nurses' recognition of the advantages of MI, parents who were cooperative and aware of the health problem and working with obese children rather than those who were overweight.

A systematic review of motivational interviewing training for general health care practitioners

“…Study quality aspects Casey [31] Lane et al [32] Lindhe Sö derlundet al [43] Sargeant et al [42] Study population and setting Reported on patient health outcomes. [33,38].…”

“…There was little indication of an association between the participants' opinion on the training and their skill levels (analysis of filmed counselling sessions, using BECCI) Lindhe Sö derlund et al [43] Important barriers to nurses' MI use were their lack of recognition that overweight and obesity among children constitute an important health problem, problem ambivalence among nurses who felt that children's weight might be a problem although there was no immediate motivation to do anything, and parents who the nurses believed were unmotivated to deal with their children's weight problem.…”

“…The participants in the study by Casey [31] valued the MI skills acquired, found them relevant to practice, and were confident in using them. Participants in the study by Lindhe Sö derlund et al [43] felt that the use of MI with sensitive topics was an advantage over traditional advice-giving approaches.…”

“…Velasquez et al [4], Broers et al [34], and Sargeant et al [42] reported time constraints for using MI effectively; Casey [31] and Lindhe Sö derlund et al [43] noted the difficulties participants experienced with unwilling or otherwise resistant patients.…”

History matters: childhood weight trajectories as a basis for planning community-based obesity prevention to adolescents

“…One out of five children can be selected for individualized interventions, such as health dialog 18 and motivational interviewing. 19 Meanwhile, the load on highly specialized pediatric care, including surgical and pharmacological interventions, can be reduced and total health service costs for obesity interventions among adolescents can be reduced by one-third. However, before use in policies and prevention program planning, the findings warrant confirmation in prospective cost-benefit studies.…”