Investigating the feasibility and acceptability of health psychology informed obesity training for medical students

Anna Chisholm, Joanne Hart, Karen Mann, Mark Perry, H Duthie, L Rezvani, S Peters

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Health psychologists have succeeded in identifying theory-congruent behaviour change techniques (BCTs) to prevent and reduce lifestyle-related illnesses, such as cardiovascular disease, cancers and diabetes. Obesity management discussions between doctors and patients can be challenging and are often avoided. Despite a clear training need, it is unknown how best to tailor BCT research findings to inform obesity-management training for future healthcare professionals. The primary objective of this descriptive study was to gather information on the feasibility and acceptability of delivering and evaluating health psychology-informed obesity training to UK medical students. Medical students (n = 41) attended an obesity management session delivered by GP tutors. Sessions were audio-recorded to enable fidelity checks. Acceptability of training was explored qualitatively. Tutors consistently delivered training according to the intervention protocol; and students and tutors found the training highly acceptable. This psychology-informed training can be delivered successfully by GP tutors and further research is warranted to explore its efficacy.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)368-376
JournalPsychology, Health & Medicine
Volume21
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015

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