Development of an Assessment Tool for Completion by Patients with Overweight or Obesity

Nina Kim; T Michelle Brown; Chakkarin Burudpakdee; Chisom Kanu; Krystene Woodard; Sheri Fehnel; Carrie Morrison; Joe Nadglowski; Karl Nadolsky; Ronette L Kolotkin

doi:10.1007/s12325-022-02334-8

Development of an Assessment Tool for Completion by Patients with Overweight or Obesity

Adv Ther. 2023 Jan;40(1):174-193. doi: 10.1007/s12325-022-02334-8. Epub 2022 Oct 18.

Authors

Nina Kim¹, T Michelle Brown², Chakkarin Burudpakdee¹, Chisom Kanu², Krystene Woodard³, Sheri Fehnel², Carrie Morrison¹, Joe Nadglowski⁴, Karl Nadolsky⁵, Ronette L Kolotkin^{6

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Affiliations

¹ Novo Nordisk, Inc., 800 Scudders Mill Road, Plainsboro, NJ, 08536, USA.
² RTI Health Solutions, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA.
³ Novo Nordisk, Inc., 800 Scudders Mill Road, Plainsboro, NJ, 08536, USA. KYQW@novonordisk.com.
⁴ Obesity Action Coalition, Tampa, FL, USA.
⁵ Department of Diabetes & Endocrinology, Spectrum Health West Michigan, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Grand Rapids, MI, USA.
⁶ Quality of Life Consulting, Durham, NC, USA.
⁷ Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
⁸ Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Førde, Norway.
⁹ Centre of Health Research, Førde Hospital Trust, Førde, Norway.
¹⁰ Morbid Obesity Centre, Tønsberg, Norway.

Abstract

Introduction: Discussions of weight-management strategies between patients and healthcare providers can yield positive outcomes for people with overweight or obesity. Nonetheless, people with overweight or obesity encounter communication challenges and other barriers to pursuing effective weight-management strategies with their healthcare providers. The aim of this study was to develop a new self-completed assessment tool to initiate and facilitate conversations related to weight management between patients and healthcare providers.

Methods: Developing the assessment tool involved a series of steps and draft versions of the tool, based on feedback from key opinion leaders in the field of obesity (N = 4) and input from people with overweight or obesity (N = 18). Three iterative rounds of qualitative interviews were conducted in the USA. A targeted review of prior qualitative research was conducted to identify common and important impacts of obesity on patients' functioning. Standard qualitative analytical methods were used to identify concepts of importance in a concept elicitation exercise during the interviews and were evaluated for potential inclusion in the tool. Potential problems with the tool were flagged during cognitive debriefing of the draft tool.

Results: During 18 individual interviews, participants referenced the impact of their weight on their lives, including health and comorbidities, physical function, emotional/mental functioning, social life, and physical appearance. Over the course of the tool's development, 24 common and important impacts of obesity on patients' functioning were reduced to a final set of eight concepts in the final tool that were deemed important and relevant to both patients and key opinion leaders.

Conclusions: The assessment tool is a five-item, self-completed measure expected to foster patient self-advocacy for individuals with overweight or obesity by giving them an opportunity to define their weight-management goals and discuss these, along with various medical interventions, with a healthcare provider.

Keywords: Communications; Obesity; Overweight; Patient-reported.

MeSH terms

Communication
Exercise
Humans
Obesity* / therapy
Overweight* / therapy
Qualitative Research