The Healthy Weight and Your Child Collaborative: A Pilot Project to Improve Obesity-related Primary Care and Cultivate Clinic-Community Linkages for Pediatric Weight Management

Obesity now affects an estimated 19% of children, and countering this epidemic will require that stronger connections be forged between clinic and community systems. For children identified with obesity, pediatric primary care providers play a key role with respect to conducting recommended assessments and ensuring that appropriate follow-up occurs, typically including patient/family-centered counseling. Gaps in care are particularly notable for these patients, due both to the complexities of care and to systemic barriers, including a lack of trusted, community programs to assist providers with behavioral treatment. Furthermore, even …