Counseling and behavior change in pediatric obesity

Abstract

To effectively intervene with the overweight and obese youth, it is imperative that primary care providers and behavioral interventionists work in concert to help families implement healthy behaviors across socioenvironmental domains. In this article, the authors review current office-based counseling practices and provide evidence-based recommendations for addressing weight status and strategies for encouraging behavior change with children and families, primarily by increasing social support. By providing such collaborative targeted efforts, consistent health messages and support are delivered across children's everyday contexts, thereby helping the youth to achieve successful implementation of eating and activity behaviors and sustainable weight loss outcomes.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Figures

Figure 1

Socioenvironmental model and recommendations for providers to make across domains.