Preventing Childhood Obesity in UK Primary Care
Author Information
Author(s): Sarah A Redsell, Philippa J Atkinson, Dilip Nathan, Aloysius N Siriwardena, Judy A Swift, Cris Glazebrook
Primary Institution: The University of Nottingham
Hypothesis
How does knowledge of the health risks associated with obesity compare between healthcare professionals working in primary care?
Conclusion
Intervention is needed to improve health visitors and nursery nurses' knowledge of obesity risk and GPs and practice nurses' capacity to identify and manage infants at risk of developing childhood obesity.
Supporting Evidence
- Over a quarter of infants gain weight more rapidly than desirable during the first six months of life.
- GPs were less confident about giving advice about infant feeding than health visitors and nursery nurses.
- Health visitors were significantly more confident about the advice they provided than GPs and nurses.
Takeaway
This study found that healthcare professionals in the UK are not very confident in giving advice about infant feeding, even though they know a lot about the health risks of obesity.
Methodology
The study involved a survey of 116 healthcare professionals and semi-structured interviews with 12 GPs and 6 practice nurses.
Potential Biases
The sample may not be generalizable to healthcare professionals working in other geographical locations in the UK.
Limitations
The response rate to the postal survey was low, and the sample may be biased towards healthcare professionals with an interest in the subject.
Participant Demographics
{"gender":{"male":19,"female":97},"age":{"20-29":7,"30-39":21,"40-49":46,"50-59":36,"60+":6},"profession":{"nursery_nurse":8,"health_visitor":27,"nurse":29,"general_practitioner":52},"years_of_experience":{"less_than_one_year":1,"1-5":23,"5-10":23,"10+":69}}
Statistical Information
P-Value
p<0.001
Statistical Significance
p<0.001
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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