EduWeight: Weight Management for Adult Patients with Chronic Disease

Improve your confidence and skills in helping your patients manage their weight

Lifestyle behaviours related to weight management are important in treating chronic disease, but clinicians often lack confidence and skills in having discussions about weight and supporting positive behaviour change. This six-week EduWeight course from the University of Melbourne is designed to change that.

Explore all aspects of weight management

By the end of this EduWeight course, you’ll have a clear understanding of how weight and chronic disease influence each other and how to support positive behaviour change for people living with overweight or obesity.

You’ll start by looking at the physiological mechanisms of weight regulation, weight loss benefits for multiple chronic disease conditions, and body responses to weight change. You’ll also learn about behaviour change theory as well as pragmatic behaviour change techniques to use in your clinical setting.

Ensure positive, stigma-free discussions to promote lifestyle change

You’ll explore the topic of weight stigma, in society and in healthcare, before looking at communication approaches for addressing weight management in a stigma-free manner, as well as intervention strategies to promote weight management.

All of this will help you to have positive and productive discussions with your patients, making them more likely to actively engage in lifestyle changes that fit in with their lives.

Learn about weight management from the experts

This course has been developed by the University of Melbourne with input from expert researchers and clinicians in physiotherapy, endocrinology, dietetics, and behaviour change.

EduWeight is based on current evidence and has been designed to help learning in the area of weight management.

This course is designed for all clinicians working with adult patients with chronic diseases who would benefit from weight management.

• Introduction, obesity and chronic disease
• Welcome and Introduction
• Mechanisms through which obesity contributes to disease
• Exploring common conditions associated with obesity and their mechanisms
• Obesity and chronic disease review
• Overview of weight regulation, overweight and obesity
• Defining overweight and obesity
• Epidemiology and Physiology
• Overview of weight regulation, overweight and obesity review
• Examining weight stigma and personal beliefs about weight
• Weight stigma, personal beliefs, and the healthcare context
• Deeper understanding of weight stigma
• The context of weight stigma in clinical settings
• Reflect on the reported themes by patients who experienced weight stigma
• Weight stigma review
• Communication approach for addressing weight management
• Addressing weight in the clinic, language, and the 5A approach
• Ask - Raising the topic of weight
• Assessing weight
• Advise, Agree, and Assist
• Communication approach review
• Interventions for weight management
• Overview and introduction to energy
• Dietary weight management interventions
• Physical activity, pharmacology and surgical weight management interventions
• Clinical guidelines and weight management interventions review
• Health behaviour change support
• Elements of quality care
• Behaviour change models
• Barriers and facilitators
• Behaviour change techniques for weight management
• Motivational interviewing
• Health behaviour change support review
• EduWeight Conclusion