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Any clinician will tell you that encouraging a patient to change a behavior or a habit is probably the hardest task in clinical practice. Even harder than getting a patient to change habits is teaching providers effective methodology to provide such counseling.

The most effective obesity treatment combines quality behavioral counseling focused on nutrition, physical activity, sleep, and emotional regulation with anti-obesity medication. developed and evaluated a virtual training program for behavioral counseling for skilled clinicians already treating patients with obesity.

The power of this training comes in that it is a longitudinal 25-week synchronous learning program that focuses on 4 major competencies. The learners are engaged in discussions and role play, helping practice their skills and receive peer feedback. The program takes learners from awareness to competence to confidence in providing effective behavior counseling and relies heavily on repetition and feedback.

The authors were able to document achievement of competency in behavioral counseling for obesity in their learners as well as gauge their perspective on the training. The participating learners, who included psychologists, pharmacists, physicians, dietitians, and others, felt the training profoundly impacted their counseling efficacy in practice.

The authors use the term "mindmap" to empower learners with tools for behavioral change that the clinician can use/modify to their respective patients' needs. Behavioral counseling is particularly difficult in that the efficacy relies heavily on both the clinician's skill and the unique patient factors that require tailoring advice to meet their needs. This mindmap acts as a guide for clinicians to individualize their approach to each patient's need.

Vallis and Shepherd presented an excellent training framework that may be just what it takes to teach clinicians effective methods of behavior change counseling.

Alina Elperin, MD, DABOM, an Internist and Obesity Medicine specialist in Evanston, Illinois, is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.

Read the study here and an interview about it here.