Society of Behavioral Medicine Call to Action: Include obesity/overweight management education in health professional curricula and provide coverage for behavior-based treatments of obesity/overweight most commonly provided by psychologists, dieticians, counselors, and other health care professionals and include such providers on all multidisciplinary teams treating patients who have overweight or obesity
Ockene, Judith K. ; Ashe, Karen M. ; Peterson, Kenneth S. ; Fitzgibbon, Marian ; Buscemi, Joanna ; Dulin, Akilah
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obesity
overweight
primary care intervention
primary care training
behavioral medicine
Behavioral Medicine
Community Health and Preventive Medicine
Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition
Health Services Administration
Integrative Medicine
Medical Education
Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases
Preventive Medicine
Primary Care
Psychiatry and Psychology
Translational Medical Research
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Abstract
Obesity is a serious chronic disease whose prevalence has grown to epidemic proportions over the past five decades and is a major contributor to the global burden of most common cancers, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, liver disease, and sleep apnea. Primary care clinicians, including physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants, are often the first health care professionals to identify obesity or overweight during routine long-term care and have the opportunity to intervene to prevent and treat disease. However, they often lack the training and skills needed to deliver scientifically validated, behavior-based treatments. These gaps must be addressed in order to treat the obesity epidemic. The Society of Behavioral Medicine strongly urges health professional educators and accrediting agencies to include obesity and overweight management education for primary care clinicians. Additionally, we support promoting referrals and reimbursement for psychologists, dieticians, and other health care professionals as critical members of the care team and improving reimbursement levels for behavioral obesity and overweight management treatment.
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Ockene JK, Ashe K, Peterson KS, Fitzgibbon M, Buscemi J, Dulin A. Society of Behavioral Medicine Call to Action: Include obesity/overweight management education in health professional curricula and provide coverage for behavior-based treatments of obesity/overweight most commonly provided by psychologists, dieticians, counselors, and other health care professionals and include such providers on all multidisciplinary teams treating patients who have overweight or obesity. Transl Behav Med. 2020 Apr 3:ibaa030. doi: 10.1093/tbm/ibaa030. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32242625. Link to article on publisher's site