Weight Bias: Child & Adolescent Obesity 2015

Healthcare professionals cannot visually identify which children fall into high-risk BMI categories without actually obtaining and plotting BMI percentile.

Using guilt, shame, and blame to motivate individuals to make healthy changes is not supported by evidence and makes individuals less likely to make healthy changes.

For larger teenagers, it takes a long time to reach their current weight status and will take a long time to achieve weight reduction, requiring patience from providers.

A patient-centered, empowering approach utilizing motivational interviewing techniques can save time, improve clinical impact, and result in more pleasant provider encounters.

Clinical environments should have chairs that allow larger patients and parents to sit comfortably, as chairs with handrails may be too small for some families.

Examination tables should be rated for weights higher than 350 pounds to accommodate larger patients safely.

Weight scales should be placed in private areas rather than in open office spaces when dealing with the sensitive topic of weight.

Parents and children come to obesity clinic visits with high defensive walls due to previous experiences with weight bias, requiring creation of a safe environment before productive conversation can occur.

The American Academy of Pediatrics will be releasing a policy statement regarding weight bias in the next couple of years.

Parents often do not recognize when their child has obesity because weight gain happens gradually, and they may be very upset and emotional when given the diagnosis.