Obesity among children and adolescents: a method for self-assessment of relevant lifestyle factors
- 15.07.2015
- English Articles
- Anne-Madeleine Bau
Peer-reviewed | Manuscript received: January 28, 2015 | Revision accepted: March 25, 2015
Introduction
The anamnestic retrieval of daily behavior and lifestyle conditions by the multi-disciplinary obesity team at the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin (nutritionists, psychologists and doctors) focuses on the conditions which trigger and sustain overweight and its changeability. Questions are based on the specialists’ focus of individual disciplines, brought together in the Konsensusgruppe Adipositasschulung im Kindes- und Jugendalter e. V. [Obesity Education among Children and Adolescents Participants Group] [1].
Typical problem areas which became evident in conversations with patients and families were energy intake (food and beverages), energy expenditure (movement and inactivity) and psycho-social factors (mood, resources and stress). In the course of further patient care and concept development, these areas were finally differentiated into nine “monitoring maps” representing possible causes of unhealthy weight development: beverages (1), portion size and food intake (2), meal frequency and “in-between eating” (3), food choice (4), daily activity (5), sports (6), media consumption: television, computer and other media (7), sweets and snacks (8), mood and feelings (9).
Summary
A diagnostic and treatment concept has been developed and tested over the last 15 years in the pediatric obesity outpatient clinic at the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. The concept enables patients, families and healthcare professionals to (self-)assess the daily conditions that trigger and sustain obesity and helps to build an individual treatment strategy. This tool was also used in a clinical study. Results from patients’ self-assessments, differentiated by gender, age, degree of obesity and highest level of parental education, show that patients require significant counseling on portion sizes, meal distribution, food choice and consumption of sweets. Results also show that girls assess their own mood and feelings worse than boys, that the age of adolescents has a significant influence on the assessment of media consumption and daily activity and that the consumption of sweetened beverages is significantly associated with the degree of obesity and parental education background.
Keywords: treatment approaches, diagnostic tool, obesity, children and adolescents, BABELUGA lifestyle monitoring map, nutrition counseling
