Qualitative Study to Inform Social Context-Informed Treatment of Children With Obesity

We sought to understand how clinicians can incorporate social context, including social assets, risks, and needs, into treatment of children with obesity and to explore potential characteristics of social context-informed care plans and facilitators and barriers to their uptake, with the goal of informing future development of a social context-informed care plan tool.

We conducted semistructured qualitative interviews with 22 participants, including clinicians, health system staff, and community organization staff primarily in the Boston area. We used a framework-guided rapid analysis approach to identify salient themes from the interviews.

Six themes were generated in the analysis relating to 1) consideration of social context at multiple levels when caring for children with obesity, 2) co-creation of social context-informed care plans, 3) careful implementation processes for care plans to ensure they benefit patients, 4) clinical follow-up considerations, 5) connection with community resources, and 6) opportunities for tool development to support care plans.

We gained insight into how clinicians can incorporate social context into treatment plans for children with obesity, including logistical and ethical considerations. We identified opportunities to develop and implement tools to support clinicians, staff, and families in the co-creation of social context-informed care plans.