Children's visits to the pediatrician are underused opportunities to address the nation's rates of childhood obesity. A recent study published in Pediatrics found a strategy called motivational interviewing, when delivered to parents by a pediatrician and registered dietician, is effective in motivating a statistically significant reduction in BMI percentile in children ages 2 through 8.
Motivational interviewing is a specific style of communication that emphasizes reflective listening, autonomy support, shared decision-making and eliciting change talk. The strategies used in this study transitioned from building motivation to planning a course of action over a series of motivational interviewing sessions.
The study randomly assigned 38 pediatric practices to one of three groups: One control group, one that gave parents four pediatrician-led motivational interviewing sessions and a third group that provided four pediatrician-led motivational interviewing sessions and six sessions with a registered dietician. Researchers measured and compared BMI percentiles from more than 450 children at the beginning of the study and at one and two year follow ups.
The mean change from the baseline in BMI percentile for the control group was 1.8, for the group with four pediatrician-led sessions it was 3.8 and for the group with sessions led by both pediatricians and dieticians it was 4.9, according to the report.
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