Health Literacy Directed Weight Loss Intervention in Primary Care Clinics

Area of Science:

• Obesity treatment
• Health literacy research
• Primary care interventions

Background:

• Low income and health literacy are linked to poor health outcomes.
• Effectiveness of health literacy-directed weight loss interventions in primary care is not well-established.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test a 24-month, patient-centered, literacy-directed obesity treatment program in primary care for an underserved population.
• To examine the association between health literacy and program effectiveness, including correlates of weight loss and patient adherence.

Main Methods:

• A pragmatic cluster-randomized trial involving 18 primary care clinics.
• Clinics were assigned to either usual care (UC) or a health literacy-directed lifestyle intervention (HLI).
• Primary outcome was percent weight loss at 24 months.

Main Results:

• The HLI group achieved an average weight loss of 4.9%, significantly more than the UC group (0.44%).
• Weight loss in the HLI group was similar for patients with adequate (5.2%) and limited (4.7%) health literacy.
• The intervention demonstrated significant weight loss across both adequate and limited health literacy subgroups compared to usual care.

Conclusions:

• A health literacy-directed health coaching intervention in community clinics resulted in significant weight loss over 24 months.
• The intervention's effectiveness did not significantly differ based on patients' health literacy levels.
• This approach shows promise for obesity treatment in diverse primary care settings.