What we do
About our project
Background
General practitioners (GPs) play an important role in the management of overweight children in general practice. However, GPs need extra guidance in the management of childhood obesity since they find it difficult to talk with parents of overweight children and they are unaware of available referral options. A Minimal Intervention Strategy (MIS) could be a feasible tool for GPs to make parents of overweight children aware and ready for referral to community-based interventions.
Hypothesis
We hypothesize that the development and optimization of the MIS will help GPs making parents aware about the overweight of their child and will help the GPs in the management of children with overweight or obesity in general practice.
Methods
The study can be divided in two phases. The first phase has a qualitative study design. During this phase standardized focus group interviews with a minimum of 15 participants at three levels (GPs, POHers and parents) will be performed. During the interviews we will use open-end questions focusing on the following theme’s: signaling overweight, to start the conversation, (expectations towards) the role of the health care professionals, referral, the use of supportive materials and education, including E-health. The outcomes of the interviews contribute to the development of the MIS. Furthermore, the following demographics will be collected of each participant:
- Health care professional level: age, sex, height, weight, years experience, type of practice population.
- Parent level: age, sex, height, weight, education level, age of child(ren), experience with overweight management strategies.
The second phase is a Delphi-procedure. For the optimization of the developed MIS a Delphi survey approach will be performed among GPs, POHers and probably also parents (n=10 on each level). A three-round procedure will be pursued within a 3-month period. The questionnaires are developed based on the outcomes of the focus group interviews and will examine the feasibility, attractiveness and usability of the content and materials, including: a signaling flowchart, a follow-up flowchart to structure treatment, patient information to support parents during treatment and provide information and a manual for health care professionals with additional information. The participants will be asked to score examples of the different content items on importance (0-10 score), feasibility (0-10 score) and attractiveness (0-10 score). For each item group means are ranked and based on their ranking items are selected for the next round. The final ranking of round three will represent the consensus of the participants. We will report the degree of importance, feasibly and attractiveness of the different items within the final round and explorative analyse differences between the participants.
General practitioners (GPs) play an important role in the management of overweight children in general practice. However, GPs need extra guidance in the management of childhood obesity since they find it difficult to talk with parents of overweight children and they are unaware of available referral options. A Minimal Intervention Strategy (MIS) could be a feasible tool for GPs to make parents of overweight children aware and ready for referral to community-based interventions.
Hypothesis
We hypothesize that the development and optimization of the MIS will help GPs making parents aware about the overweight of their child and will help the GPs in the management of children with overweight or obesity in general practice.
Methods
The study can be divided in two phases. The first phase has a qualitative study design. During this phase standardized focus group interviews with a minimum of 15 participants at three levels (GPs, POHers and parents) will be performed. During the interviews we will use open-end questions focusing on the following theme’s: signaling overweight, to start the conversation, (expectations towards) the role of the health care professionals, referral, the use of supportive materials and education, including E-health. The outcomes of the interviews contribute to the development of the MIS. Furthermore, the following demographics will be collected of each participant:
- Health care professional level: age, sex, height, weight, years experience, type of practice population.
- Parent level: age, sex, height, weight, education level, age of child(ren), experience with overweight management strategies.
The second phase is a Delphi-procedure. For the optimization of the developed MIS a Delphi survey approach will be performed among GPs, POHers and probably also parents (n=10 on each level). A three-round procedure will be pursued within a 3-month period. The questionnaires are developed based on the outcomes of the focus group interviews and will examine the feasibility, attractiveness and usability of the content and materials, including: a signaling flowchart, a follow-up flowchart to structure treatment, patient information to support parents during treatment and provide information and a manual for health care professionals with additional information. The participants will be asked to score examples of the different content items on importance (0-10 score), feasibility (0-10 score) and attractiveness (0-10 score). For each item group means are ranked and based on their ranking items are selected for the next round. The final ranking of round three will represent the consensus of the participants. We will report the degree of importance, feasibly and attractiveness of the different items within the final round and explorative analyse differences between the participants.
Our research focus
Primary outcome
The primary outcome is a feasible MIS for the management of childhood overweight and obesity in general practice.
Secondary outcome
Not applicable.
The primary outcome is a feasible MIS for the management of childhood overweight and obesity in general practice.
Secondary outcome
Not applicable.
Funds & Grants
Stichting Theia (PO-nummer 4200000321)
Collaborations
Department of General Practice
Our team
M.A.M. van der Velden, m.a.m.vandervelden@erasmusmc.nl
Dr. M. van Middelkoop (co-promotor), m.vanmiddelkoop@erasmusmc.nl
W. Jansen, w.jansen@rotterdam.nl
S. Buis, s.buis.gcommoord@zonboog.nl
Prof. dr. P.J. Bindels, p.bindels@erasmusmc.nl
Contact addresses for the project: m.a.m.vandervelden@erasmusmc.nl and m.vanmiddelkoop@erasmusmc.nl.
