Family Physicians' Perspectives on Their Weight Loss Nutrition Counseling in a High Obesity Prevalence Area

Article Figures & Data

Table 1.

Prevalence of Physician Characteristics by Frequency of Counseling

Physician Characteristic	% Higher Frequency Counselors (No.)	% Lower Frequency Counselors (No.)	P value
Age
<35 years	42.9 (3)	57.1 (4)	.40
35 to 55 years	71.4 (15)	28.6 (6)
>55 years	60.0 (6)	40.0 (4)
Female	61.1 (11)	38.9 (7)	1.00
Personal weight loss attempt	59.4 (19)	40.6 (13)	.38
Frequency of reading nutritional labels
Always	100 (6)	0.00 (0)
Mostly	60.0 (9)	40.0 (6)	.29
Sometimes	66.7 (8)	33.3 (4)
Never	50.0 (1)	50.0 (1)
Med. School
Graduation year
<1995	53.8 (7)	46.2 (6)
1995 to 1999	100 (6)	0.0 (0)
2000 to 2005	57.1 (4)	42.9 (3)	.24
2006 to 2010	71.4 (5)	28.6 (2)
2011 to 2015	40.0 (2)	60.0 (3)
Medical school offeredmoderate-extensive nutrition education	58.3 (7)	41.7 (5)	.73
Medical school used Nutrition in Medicine curriculum	40.0 (2)	60.0 (3)	.34
Medical school
Nutrition curriculum
Clinically relevant?
Strongly agree	100 (1)	0.0 (0)
Agree	56.2 (9)	43.8 (7)
Neutral	76.9 (10)	23.1 (3)	.81
Disagree	60.0 (3)	40.0 (2)
Strongly disagree	100 (1)	0.0 (0)
Additional postgraduate nutritional education	52.4 (11)	47.6 (10)	.18
Lack nutrition and diet knowledge	40.0 (2)	60.0 (3)	.34
Uses specific patient education resource	68.8 (22)	31.2 (10)	.17
Time constraint barrier to nutrition counseling	56.7 (17)	43.3 (13)	.22
Reimbursement barrier to nutrition counseling	100 (6)	0.0 (0)	.07
Patient uninterested barrier to nutrition counseling	66.7 (8)	33.3 (4)	.53
Refers to dietician	67.9 (19)	32.1 (9)	.45
Dietician unavailability barrier to dietician referral	20.0 (1)	80.0 (4)	.05

Table 2.

Frequency of Selection of Specific Nutrition Patient Education Resources

Specific resource	Frequency, No.
EHR-embedded patient education resources	9
USDA MyPlate resources	7
Smartphone weight loss applications (MyFitness Pal, Lose It!)	5
American Academy of Family Physicians patient information	2
Weight Watchers	2
UpToDate	1
Joslin Diabetes Center patient information	1
American Diabetes Association	1
NAA Weight, Activity, Variety and Excess pocket card	0
NAA Rapid Eating and Activity Assessment for Patients tool	0

EHR = Electronic Health Record, USDA = United States Department of Agriculture, NAA = Nutrition Academic Award.

Table 3.

Frequency of Selection of Specific Barriers to the Provision of Nutrition Counseling

Barrier	Frequency, No.
Time constraint	30
Lack of patient interest in nutrition topics	14
No reimbursement from insurance	6
Lack of knowledge about nutrition counseling and diet topics	5
Lack of belief that nutrition counseling is efficacious	0