Weight Management Counseling in Medical Schools

Summary

Eight U.S. medical schools will be participating in the study: Weight Management Counseling in Medical Schools, also known as MSWEIGHT. This is a five-year randomized controlled trial (RCT) designed to compare the efficacy of two approaches to learning weight management counseling: 1)traditional education (TE) and; 2) multi-modal educational intervention (MME).

The study aims are to refine and compare the efficacy of MME to TE on observed student weight management counseling skills measured through the primary outcome, the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE).

Conditions

• Obesity

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Multi-Modal Education (MME)

The MME curriculum focuses on developing weight management counseling (WMC) skills through several components: 1) a web course focused on WMC knowledge and clinical skill competencies; 2) WMC role-play exercises for an opportunity to use an algorithm to practice patient-centered WMC; 3) personal weight management exercises to increase awareness of "Assist" activities (e.g. daily food monitoring using mobile apps, etc); 4) obesity bias assessments, video, and discussions to modify attitudes of implicit weight bias; 5) a formative web-based encounter to interact with and receive feedback from a standardized patient; and 6) an enhanced clerkship rotation focusing on providing learning to preceptors and allowing students to observe preceptors counseling patients who are overweight or obese.

BEHAVIORAL

Traditional Education (TE)

Current curriculum may consist of topics related to biology, population health, or counseling skills. TE also may include sporadic stand-alone lectures or small group discussions conducted separately or as a part of a patient interviewing or behavioral course.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Cancer Institute (NCI)

  collaborator NIH

• Brown University

  collaborator OTHER

• Creighton University

  collaborator OTHER

• Georgetown University

  collaborator OTHER

• Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH)

  collaborator OTHER

• Oregon Health and Science University

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Alabama at Birmingham

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Iowa

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Louisville

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Pennsylvania

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Massachusetts, Worcester

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Judith K Ockene, PhD · University of Massachusetts, Worcester

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2015-12-01

Primary Completion

2020-11-30

Completion

2022-11-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations