Health professionals' views and experiences of discussing weight with children and their families:  A systematic review of qualitative research

Shanara Abdin; Gemma Heath; Richard K. Welch

doi:10.1111/cch.12854

Health professionals' views and experiences of discussing weight with children and their families: A systematic review of qualitative research

Shanara Abdin^*, Gemma Heath, Richard K. Welch

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

Abstract

Background: Healthcare professionals are ideally placed to discuss weight management with children and families to treat and prevent childhood obesity. The aim of this review was to collect and synthesize primary research evidence relating to health professional's views and experiences of discussing weight with children and their families. Methods: Systematic searches were conducted using the following databases: MEDLINE (OVID), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), EMBASE (OVID), PsycINFO (OVID) and Healthcare Management Information Consortium (HMIC). Twenty-six full text qualitative studies published in English Language journals since inception to October 2019 were included. Papers were quality assessed and synthesized using an inductive thematic analysis approach. Results: Data analysis generated five themes: sensitivity of the issue, family–professional relationships, whole systems approach, professional competency and sociocultural context. Conclusion: Supporting behaviour change through discussion of healthy weight with children and families is an important part of the health professional's role. Tailored information for professionals, including resources and training, facilitates them to confidently talk to children and families about weight prioritized within interventions. The success of such interventions requires commitment from a range of professionals to ensure healthy weight is tackled through a whole system approach.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	562-574
Number of pages	13
Journal	Child: Care, Health and Development
Volume	47
Issue number	4
Early online date	16 Feb 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/cch.12854
Publication status	Published - Jul 2021

Bibliographical note

© 2021 The Authors. Child: Care, Health and Development published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Keywords

children
family health
health professional
obesity
weight

Access to Document

10.1111/cch.12854Licence: CC BY 3.0

Health professionals' views and experiences of discussing weight with children and their families
© 2021 The Authors. Child: Care, Health and Development published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Final published version, 1.22 MBLicence: CC BY 3.0

Cite this

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title = "Health professionals' views and experiences of discussing weight with children and their families: A systematic review of qualitative research",

abstract = "Background: Healthcare professionals are ideally placed to discuss weight management with children and families to treat and prevent childhood obesity. The aim of this review was to collect and synthesize primary research evidence relating to health professional's views and experiences of discussing weight with children and their families. Methods: Systematic searches were conducted using the following databases: MEDLINE (OVID), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), EMBASE (OVID), PsycINFO (OVID) and Healthcare Management Information Consortium (HMIC). Twenty-six full text qualitative studies published in English Language journals since inception to October 2019 were included. Papers were quality assessed and synthesized using an inductive thematic analysis approach. Results: Data analysis generated five themes: sensitivity of the issue, family–professional relationships, whole systems approach, professional competency and sociocultural context. Conclusion: Supporting behaviour change through discussion of healthy weight with children and families is an important part of the health professional's role. Tailored information for professionals, including resources and training, facilitates them to confidently talk to children and families about weight prioritized within interventions. The success of such interventions requires commitment from a range of professionals to ensure healthy weight is tackled through a whole system approach.",

keywords = "children, family health, health professional, obesity, weight",

author = "Shanara Abdin and Gemma Heath and Welch, {Richard K.}",

note = "{\textcopyright} 2021 The Authors. Child: Care, Health and Development published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ",

year = "2021",

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PY - 2021/7

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N2 - Background: Healthcare professionals are ideally placed to discuss weight management with children and families to treat and prevent childhood obesity. The aim of this review was to collect and synthesize primary research evidence relating to health professional's views and experiences of discussing weight with children and their families. Methods: Systematic searches were conducted using the following databases: MEDLINE (OVID), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), EMBASE (OVID), PsycINFO (OVID) and Healthcare Management Information Consortium (HMIC). Twenty-six full text qualitative studies published in English Language journals since inception to October 2019 were included. Papers were quality assessed and synthesized using an inductive thematic analysis approach. Results: Data analysis generated five themes: sensitivity of the issue, family–professional relationships, whole systems approach, professional competency and sociocultural context. Conclusion: Supporting behaviour change through discussion of healthy weight with children and families is an important part of the health professional's role. Tailored information for professionals, including resources and training, facilitates them to confidently talk to children and families about weight prioritized within interventions. The success of such interventions requires commitment from a range of professionals to ensure healthy weight is tackled through a whole system approach.

AB - Background: Healthcare professionals are ideally placed to discuss weight management with children and families to treat and prevent childhood obesity. The aim of this review was to collect and synthesize primary research evidence relating to health professional's views and experiences of discussing weight with children and their families. Methods: Systematic searches were conducted using the following databases: MEDLINE (OVID), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), EMBASE (OVID), PsycINFO (OVID) and Healthcare Management Information Consortium (HMIC). Twenty-six full text qualitative studies published in English Language journals since inception to October 2019 were included. Papers were quality assessed and synthesized using an inductive thematic analysis approach. Results: Data analysis generated five themes: sensitivity of the issue, family–professional relationships, whole systems approach, professional competency and sociocultural context. Conclusion: Supporting behaviour change through discussion of healthy weight with children and families is an important part of the health professional's role. Tailored information for professionals, including resources and training, facilitates them to confidently talk to children and families about weight prioritized within interventions. The success of such interventions requires commitment from a range of professionals to ensure healthy weight is tackled through a whole system approach.

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