Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Nearly 1 in 3 of UK children are overweight or have obesity. Obesity is associated with a higher risk of physical, psychological, and social ill-health yet doctors often do not initiate a conversation with parents about weight when a child has obesity. Studies have shown that doctors frequently fail to address childhood obesity with families in general paediatric outpatient clinics. Doctors report fear of upsetting parents. Parental views on this are largely unexplored. A quality improvement project in our district general hospital was used to improve our response to childhood obesity. This QI project included a parental survey to inform service development.

Methods: Questionnaires were offered to the parents of 120 aged 2-16 years children attending face-to-face paediatric outpatient clinics in our hospital over a 5-day period. Questionnaires comprised of 4 closed Yes/No questions. Questionnaires were anonymous, separate from the clinic appointment and administered by reception staff. Parents were informed that participation was entirely voluntary.

Results: 103 of parents completed the questionnaire (return rate: 86%). 97% of parents (n=100) answered Yes when asked “Do you think it is useful to check the weight of your child when attending a paediatric outpatient appointment?” 96% of parents answered Yes (n=99) when asked “Do you think the doctor seeing your child in outpatient clinic should inform you if your child has obesity?” 93% of parents (n=96) answered Yes when asked “Would you like the doctor to give dietary and lifestyle advice if your child had obesity?” 93% of parents (n=96) answered Yes when asked “Do you believe that healthcare professionals should receive training to have conversations about a child’s weight with parents?”

Discussion: Doctors worry about causing distress when raising the issue of obesity but in contrast parents report that they want to be informed if their child has obesity. Parental feedback shows that parents expect healthcare professionals to initiate conversations about weight if a child has obesity and provide dietary and physical activity advice. There is a need to utilise this parental feedback and improve our clinical practice to play our role as paediatricians in addressing the obesity epidemic.