Poster Presentation ANZOS-Breakthrough Discoveries Joint Annual Scientific Meeting 2018

The Acceptability, Effectiveness, and Impact of Different Models of Care for Paediatric Weight Management Services: A concurrent mixed-methods study (#307)

Jennifer Cohen 1 2 , Shirley Alexander 1 , Michelle Cretikos 3 , Sarah P Garnett 4 , Alison J Hayes 5 , Tim Shaw 6 , Kyra A Sim 7 8 , Louise A Baur 1 9
  1. Weight Management Services, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Westmead, NSW, Australia
  2. Discipline of Paediatrics, School of Women’s and Children’s Health, UNSW Medicine, University of NSW, Randwick, NSW, Australia
  3. Clinical Quality and Safety, Centre for Population Health, NSW Ministry of Health, North Sydney, NSW, Australia
  4. Institute of Endocrinology and Diabetes, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Westmead, NSW, Australia
  5. Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  6. Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  7. Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  8. Sydney Local Health District, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
  9. Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Introduction

Paediatric obesity is a serious, but clinically neglected, chronic health problem. Excess weight problems are rarely managed when children attend clinical services. It is recommended that obesity treatment uses a “chronic-care” approach to management, with different types and intensity of treatment dependent upon severity of obesity. There are several new secondary and tertiary weight management services being implemented within New South Wales (NSW), Australia in 2017/2018 with differing models of care. This study will ascertain what factors affect acceptability, reach, and participation, as well as measure the clinical effectiveness of these services.

Methods

This is an acceptability and effectiveness study building upon existing and planned secondary and tertiary level service delivery in several health districts. This study will recruit participants from seven different paediatric weight management services (PWMS) across five Local Health Districts in NSW, Australia. Using a mixed-methods approach we will document a range of process, impact and clinical outcome measures in order to better understand the context and the effectiveness of each PWMS model. The project development and implementation is guided by the Theoretical Domains Framework. Participants will include parents of children less than 18 years of age attending PWMS, clinicians working as part of PWMS and health service managers. Data will be captured using a combination of anthropometric measures, questionnaires, one-on-one semi-structured interviews and focus groups.

Findings

Barriers and enablers to the development and commencement of this study protocol will be presented. Preliminary data on the views of parents of paediatric weight management clinics will also be presented.

 

Discussion

Results from this study will assess the acceptability and effectiveness of different models of care for paediatric weight management. Such information is required to inform long-term sustainability and scalability of secondary and tertiary care services to the large number of families with children above a healthy weight.