Knowledge, attitudes and management skills of medical practitioners regarding weight management

Abstract

BackgroundOverweight and obesity have become a global problem. Health professionals are poorly prepared in weight management, which has an effect on their attitudes and management skills with regard to overweight and obese patients.Aim and settingTo assess the knowledge, attitudes and management skills of medical practitioners regarding weight management at Odi District Hospital, Gauteng Province, South Africa.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study on 48 medical practitioners at Odi Hospital between 01 October and 31 October 2013. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess their knowledge, attitudes and management skills in weight management. The SPSS® statistical software (Version 22) was used for data analysis. A p < 0.05 was considered significant.ResultsFifty medical practitioners were recruited, 48 consented to participate and 28 (58.3%) were male. Their categories were community service doctors (3), medical officers (21), registrars (22) and others (2). Thirty-seven (77.1%) never received training in weight management (p < 0.001). Thirty-two (66.7%) regarded weight management as not confined to a dietician (p < 0.001) and 27 (56.2%) regarded weight management as usually unsuccessful (p = 0.004). Forty-seven (97.9%) provided lifestyle modifications and 43 (89.6%) involved the patient’s family in weight management (p < 0.001). More non-registrars [14 (77.8%)] than registrars [8 (38.1%)] measured the body mass index (BMI) routinely (p = 0.013).ConclusionFew medical practitioners received training in weight management. They regarded weight management as usually unsuccessful and lacked confidence in the same owing to lack of training. They provided lifestyle modifications and involved the patient’s family in weight management. Non-registrars measured the BMI routinely. There is a need for training in weight management at undergraduate and post-graduate levels.

Identifying Opportunities for Advancing Weight Management in Primary Care

“…Some of the cited reasons why some PCPs prefer not to initiate a discussion on weight management include lack of competence on overweight and obesity care stemming from lack of training, 4,20 concern about possible negative consequences elicited by introducing the topic to patients during a consultation, time constraints, 4,20 and limited resources to raise the sensitive topic, 40 especially if overweight and obesity are not the presenting complaint in a given consultation. 41 These reasons were echoed by the PCPs and nurses surveyed in this study. Consequently, there was also reported hesitancy among PCPs who indicated that they would not bring up the topic of weight management with their patients unless their patient brings it up first while patients felt that it is their PCPs responsibility to initiate the discussion.…”

Knowledge about epidemiological determinants of obesity and its management amongst medical professionals of Marathwada region of Maharashtra, India

“…Similarly a study done by Mkhatshwa et al showed that the definition of obesity and BMI calculation method was not known by one third of the participants. 9 A study by Al Ghawai et al found that more than 60% of the participants did not know the classification of overweight and obesity according to BMI in their study. 6 Related with the cause of obesity, 98 (89.0%) participants knew that it was because of increase energy intake and sedentary life style in the present study.…”

“…Similarly a study done by Mkhatshwa et al showed that, 97.5% participants were aware that overweight and obesity are public health problems in South Africa. 9 Another study by Metcalf et al found that 92% of physicians agreed with the statement that the obesity is a big health problem among children and adults. 7 A study by Tsai et al also found that obesity was well recognized as a public health problem by 95.7% participants.…”

“…8 Parameters commonly used to measure overweight and obesity are the Body Mass Index (BMI), Waist Circumference (WC) and Waist-Hip Ratio (WHR). 9 The pandemic of overweight and obesity in developed and developing countries presents a challenge to public health and requires medical intervention, modifications of individual behavior, and environmental changes. 10 Physician-level barriers to obesity care have been extensively explored in the literature.…”

Using of licensed and unlicensed anti-obesity medications among the university students

“…The problem is that the spreading of the AOM market on social media and the usage rate among the students especially the females becomes common but there is no recent data available on the usage rate or on the knowledge of the students regarding AOM intake. Few studies were published regarding the knowledge and perceptions AOM among different groups [16][17][18][19]. From another hand of view, university students stand out particularly with the role of higher education in the adoption of preventive actions and plan to give others an opportunity to contribute to the community to which they belong [20].…”