Biomaterial Database

Pediatricians' perceptions and practices regarding childhood obesity. 1989

J H Price, and S M Desmond, and E S Ruppert, and C M Stelzer

Department of Health Promotion & Human performance, University of Toledo, Ohio.

A 42-item Likert format questionnaire examining pediatricians' perceptions and practices concerning childhood obesity was distributed to a national random sample of 500 physicians. The overall response rate was 68%. The majority of pediatricians believed physicians are obligated to counsel parents of obese children regarding the health risks of obesity (83%), that normal weight is important to the health of children (67%), and that physicians should be role models by maintaining their normal weight (59%). However, 70% of these pediatricians believed designing programs and counseling children about weight loss was difficult, 22% felt competent in prescribing weight loss programs for children, and only 11% agreed that counseling children and parents on weight loss is professionally gratifying. At least one-half of the respondents recommended the following weight loss programs/techniques to their patients: (1) decreasing caloric consumption (84%), (2) seeing a dietitian/nutritionist (78%), (3) joining Weight Watchers (66%), (4) aerobic exercise (60%), and (5) behavior modification programs (55%). These pediatricians received most of their weight control information from medical journals (70%) and past experience (68%). We also assessed belief and attitudes concerning the effect of childhood obesity, the role obesity plays in selected diseases, and the etiology of childhood obesity.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D009765	Obesity	A status with BODY WEIGHT that is grossly above the recommended standards, usually due to accumulation of excess FATS in the body. The standards may vary with age, sex, genetic or cultural background. In the BODY MASS INDEX, a BMI greater than 30.0 kg/m2 is considered obese, and a BMI greater than 40.0 kg/m2 is considered morbidly obese (MORBID OBESITY).
D010372	Pediatrics	A medical specialty concerned with maintaining health and providing medical care to children from birth to adolescence.
D010465	Perception	The process by which the nature and meaning of sensory stimuli are recognized and interpreted.	Sensory Processing,Processing, Sensory
D011795	Surveys and Questionnaires	Collections of data obtained from voluntary subjects. The information usually takes the form of answers to questions, or suggestions.	Community Survey,Nonrespondent,Questionnaire,Questionnaires,Respondent,Survey,Survey Method,Survey Methods,Surveys,Baseline Survey,Community Surveys,Methodology, Survey,Nonrespondents,Questionnaire Design,Randomized Response Technique,Repeated Rounds of Survey,Respondents,Survey Methodology,Baseline Surveys,Design, Questionnaire,Designs, Questionnaire,Methods, Survey,Questionnaire Designs,Questionnaires and Surveys,Randomized Response Techniques,Response Technique, Randomized,Response Techniques, Randomized,Survey, Baseline,Survey, Community,Surveys, Baseline,Surveys, Community,Techniques, Randomized Response
D011897	Random Allocation	A process involving chance used in therapeutic trials or other research endeavor for allocating experimental subjects, human or animal, between treatment and control groups, or among treatment groups. It may also apply to experiments on inanimate objects.	Randomization,Allocation, Random
D002648	Child	A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL.	Children
D003376	Counseling	The giving of advice and assistance to individuals with educational or personal problems.
D004038	Diet, Reducing	A diet designed to cause an individual to lose weight.	Weight Loss Diet,Weight Reduction Diet,Diet, Weight Loss,Diet, Weight Reduction,Diets, Reducing,Diets, Weight Loss,Diets, Weight Reduction,Reducing Diet,Reducing Diets,Weight Loss Diets,Weight Reduction Diets
D005260	Female		Females