Piloting a Brief Pragmatic Intervention to Promote Weight-Inclusive Primary Care

This project challenges the prevailing weight-centric paradigm of present-day medicine which focuses on weight as a primary indicator of health. This study aimed to understand the impact of a brief pragmatic intervention to facilitate shifting healthcare providers' clinical conceptualization, attitudes, and practices from weight-centric to weight-inclusive care. A one-hour pragmatic training was composed and presented to providers at a community health clinic. The intervention highlighted the critical gap in our understanding of health and attempted to bring attention to the intricate web of factors that play into the complexity of weight. The education also provided specific tools that providers can put into practice to better cultivate weight-inclusive care. Mixed methods were used to evaluate the acceptability and efficacy of the intervention via changes in provider attitudes, treatment behaviors, and conceptualization of patient issues. Findings reveal modest differences from pre- to post-intervention as well as a notable disconnect among providers’ understanding and application of concepts. Participants expressed significant interest in the training and weight-inclusive care.