MRWeight: Medical Residents Learning Weight Management Counseling Skills -- A Multi-Modal, Technology-Assisted, Spaced Education Program
University of Massachusetts, Worcester
Summary
The goal of this study is to addresses the lack of weight management training physicians receive during their residency training. The main questions it aims to answer are: * How affective is the MRWeight curriculum at increasing medical residents weight management counseling (WMC) skills. * Evaluate residents' adoption of WMC skills in encounters with their patients * what would be the best way to get residents to adopt the WMC skills Residents in the comparison group will receive a course on obesity and weight management. The residents in the intervention group will have to attend 2 informational sessions and will receive 6 email modules on WMC. Both groups will also take part in 3 assessments over the course of 18 months to see which group has better WMC skills.
Description
Overweight and obesity have reached epidemic proportions in the United States, proving to be a very difficult health challenge for both patients and the physicians who care for them. Excess weight is a major contributor to heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. Addressing overweight and obesity in clinical visits is critical to treating and preventing these obesity-associated diseases. However, Weight Management Counseling (WMC) uptake is low, and physicians report lack of training as a critical barrier to WMC. Residency training is a crucial time to influence physicians' current and futu…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18+ years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: * All PGY1 residents in participating sites Inclusion Criteria for participating site: * The program is willing and able to incorporate the MRWeight program into the PGY1 core curriculum. * The residency director will allow PGY1s to complete surveys and curriculum evaluations online or in class and to complete a standardized assessment of their knowledge and use of WMC, and * The site will allow inclusion of three successive cohorts of PGY1s to ensure more than a sufficient number of residents to adequately test the effect of the intervention
Interventions
- BehavioralDidatic Session 1: Core Foundation Course
A 45-minute foundational presentation covering key Weight Management Counseling (WMC) concepts, obesity bias, and cultural humility facilitated by a trained clinician-educator at the residency program delivered at baseline.
- BehavioralThe 3Ps Program
6 email modules delivered over months 2-8). Each 3P module will allow the resident to: (1) Prepare: Review relevant concepts and demonstration videos sent via an email to prepare for completing the VCA vignettes; (2) Practice: Respond to brief vignettes of various 5As WMC challenging scenarios by audio recording their spoken response on the VCA tool; and (3) Process: Reflect on actionable expert and crowdsourced analogue patient feedback on the quality of their responses to each VCA vignette.
- BehavioralDidactic session 2
(months 8-10): This 45-minute session will discuss key barriers to WMC adoption in clinical practice using real-world cases captured from residents facilitated by a trained clinician-educator at the residency program.
- BehavioralEmail reinforcement
2 emails in months 10-12 covering key concepts in the preceding components.
- Behavioral
Locations (8)
- Stanford UniversityPalo Alto, California
- UC DavisSacramento, California
- Boston UniversityBoston, Massachusetts
- Stony BrookEast Setauket, New York
- Albert Einstein College of MedicineThe Bronx, New York
- Penn State UniversityHershey, Pennsylvania