The Role of Behavioral Medicine in the Treatment of Obesity in Primary Care

Scott Kahan; Dawn K Wilson; Allison M Sweeney

doi:10.1016/j.mcna.2017.09.002

The Role of Behavioral Medicine in the Treatment of Obesity in Primary Care

Med Clin North Am. 2018 Jan;102(1):125-133. doi: 10.1016/j.mcna.2017.09.002.

Authors

Scott Kahan¹, Dawn K Wilson², Allison M Sweeney²

Affiliations

¹ Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA; George Washington University School of Medicine, 1020 19th Street NW, Suite 450, Washington, DC 20036, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Psychology, Barnwell College, University of South Carolina, 1512 Pendleton Street, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.

PMID: 29156180
DOI: 10.1016/j.mcna.2017.09.002

Abstract

Behavioral medicine provides a framework for supporting patients to achieve changes in target health behaviors, such as dietary and physical activity changes. Behavioral medicine fits alongside traditional medical treatments, can minimize the need for more intensive medical treatments, improves outcomes of these treatments, and improves adherence to medication prescriptions or postsurgical recommendations. This article provides an overview of behavioral medicine counseling for obesity in primary care, rooted in the "5 As" approach to health behavior change, and the basic outline of behavioral skills interventions in which health care providers use self-regulatory and behavioral strategies to improve health-related behaviors among patients with obesity.

Keywords: Behavior change; Behavioral medicine; Counseling; Motivational interviewing.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Counseling
Health Behavior*
Health Promotion / organization & administration*
Healthy Lifestyle
Humans
Obesity / therapy*
Patient Education as Topic / organization & administration*
Primary Health Care / organization & administration*
Professional-Patient Relations