Study Finds "Tough Love" Fails In Encouraging Weight Loss
In light of PPACA’s wellness incentives and First Lady Michelle Obama’s initiative to reduce childhood obesity, maintaining a healthy body weight has been increasingly encouraged as a way to help reduce the costs of health care. While people who are overweight are frequently advised by their physicians to lose excess pounds, a new study shows whether or not such advice is effective depends on how it is dispensed.
Specifically, researchers found that the “tough love” approach – i.e., harsh admonishments or scoldings – are actually less likely to be effective than collaborative discussion between a physician and patient.
In the study, the results of which were published in the October issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers recorded conversations between 40 primary care doctors and 461 of their overweight/obese patients between January 2007 and June 2008. The researchers noted whether nutrition, physical activity, or weight and body mass index came up during the conversation, and then followed up with the patients three months later to determine if the talk about weight resulted in any weight loss.
Results showed that physicians who used “motivational interviewing” were generally more successful in inducing patients to lose weight. “Motivational interviewing” includes strategies that reinforce a patient’s own desire for change, and empowers patients by conveying that change can only be achieved by the patient, not by the physician. As reinforcement, physicians used language and tactics that accept patients’ weaknesses, praises success, and highlights the “team” relationship between a patient and physician.
After reviewing results from the 320 patients who discussed weight with their physician, the study showed that the “motivational interview” technique was associated with a significant weight loss, or 3.5 pounds more than those who had a non-motivational conversation.
While "motivational interviewing" techniques can most easily be employed in the physician/patient setting, employers who offer voluntary wellness incentives for employees to help reduce the costs of health care coverage may want to consider implementing “motivational interviewing” techniques in order to boost the effectiveness of such programs. For more information about setting up an employee wellness program, contact an experienced health care law attorney.
