Evaluation of The Group Visits Method Used in Obesity Management

Abstract

Introduction: Obesity is defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation, which poses a risk to health by the World HealthOrganization and many other areas of expertise. There are many complex mechanisms in the etiology of obesity. Obesity, like itsetiology, causes diverse biopsychosocial cultural and existential disorders. Because of this complexity in both the etiology and theoutcomes, the treatment of obesity should be customized. However, this is not possible due to the high number of daily patient log inthe primary care. The aim of this study was to investigate the group visits (GV) used for obesity management in primary care.Method: The study was planned as a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods. In the quantitative part of thestudy, an 11-item evaluation form was used. The five-point Likert scores were calculated as mean and standard deviation. Followingthe evaluation of quantitative data, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted in order to examine the GV in more detail andto find answers to the why and how questions. COREQ-Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research was used in thestructuring and reporting phase of the qualitative study. Results: The mean age of the study was 37.6 ± 10.3 years. Among theseresponses, items with the highest score (good / very good) were the participants' responses to understanding the importance ofnutrition and exercise. In the qualitative part; 1) positive effects 2) negative effects 3) sustained healthy lifestyle changes 4)motivations 5) suggestions for GV, five themes were reached. Conclusion: GV can be applied in the management of obesity in linewith the principles of family medicine discipline and can be made more effective with the improvements determined in this study.