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Using motivational interviewing for weight feedback to parents of young children
Anna M Dawson1, Deirdre A Brown, Adell Cox
1Department of Women's and Children's Health, University of Otago, New Zealand.
Insights
A single session of motivational interviewing (MI) for childhood overweight feedback effectively increased parental motivation for healthy lifestyles. Both MI and best practice care (BPC) successfully engaged families in treatment.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Behavioral Science
- Public Health
Background:
- Childhood obesity is a significant public health concern requiring effective early intervention strategies.
- Parental engagement is crucial for the success of family-based weight management programs.
- Motivational interviewing (MI) is a counseling approach that aims to help people resolve ambivalence about behavior change.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate if a single motivational interviewing (MI) session, providing feedback on a child's overweight status, enhances treatment engagement.
- To compare the effectiveness of MI versus best practice care (BPC) in promoting parental motivation and intervention uptake.
- To assess the safety and parental satisfaction with different feedback methods for childhood weight status.
Main Methods:
- A randomized controlled trial involving 1093 children aged 4-8 years undergoing health screening.
- Parents of overweight children (n=271) were randomized to receive feedback via MI or BPC using a traffic light system.
- Follow-up interviews assessed intervention uptake, motivation, behavior changes, and parental response to feedback.
Main Results:
- High recruitment rates (76%) were observed, with no significant difference between MI and BPC feedback conditions.
- Parents reported high satisfaction with the feedback delivery, regardless of the condition.
- A significant increase in self-determined motivation for healthy lifestyles was found in the MI group compared to BPC after one session.
Conclusions:
- Both MI and BPC were effective in engaging parents in family-based weight management interventions.
- MI showed a significant benefit in enhancing self-determined motivation for healthy lifestyles compared to BPC.
- The traffic light approach is a suitable method for delivering sensitive weight feedback to parents.
Aim:
To determine whether a single session of motivational interviewing (MI) for feedback of a child's overweight status promotes engagement in treatment following screening.
Methods:
One thousand ninety-three children aged 4-8 years were recruited through primary and secondary care to attend health screening, including assessment of parenting practices and motivation (questionnaire). Families with normal-weight children were informed about their child's weight but had no further involvement. Parents of overweight (body mass index ≥ 85th percentile) children (n = 271) were randomised to receive weight feedback via MI or best practice care (BPC) using a traffic light concept to indicate degree of health risk. Follow-up interviews were held 2 weeks later to examine intervention uptake, changes to motivation and behaviour, and parental response to feedback.
Results:
Recruitment into the intervention was high (76%) and not altered by feedback condition (percentage difference 6.6 (95% confidence interval -2.9, 16.0). High scores on the Health Care Climate Questionnaire (rating of the interviewer) indicated satisfaction with how the information was provided to parents. No differences were observed in multiple indicators of harm. However, self-determined motivation for healthy life-styles was significantly higher in the MI condition at follow-up (0.18: 0.00, 0.35), after only a single session of MI.
Conclusions:
MI and BPC were both successful in encouraging parents to participate in a family-based intervention, with MI offering little significant benefit over BPC. A traffic light approach to weight feedback is a suitable way of providing sensitive information to parents not expecting such news.
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