By taking a stand at this year’s event, the charity aimed to talk to visitors about the psychological aspect of the condition, and were overwhelmed by the response they received. “We felt that being at the NIP conference would give us the opportunity to convey our approach directly to front line workers, and we were delighted by the volume who sought out our stand and were interested to learn more about our approach,” said charity director Patricia Sadio.
The training and support programmes developed by the charity for professionals – health workers, youth workers and social workers – focus on understanding the complexities of obesity, and how to communicate effectively with patients to get the best results.
“We believe that to combat obesity we must understand obesity. Our key aim is to engage, to encourage and to empower, working on the basis that people are better motivated to make healthy choices when they feel good about themselves.”
Whilst at the stand, nurses were asked to complete a survey to ascertain their knowledge and understanding of obesity with interesting results. Over 90% considered obesity to be relevant to their daily practice, however a large percentage – 72% – said that they had not received any formal training in the subject. 59% felt that they did not have appropriate knowledge of obesity issues, and 62% felt they didn’t have the appropriate skills to support obese patients.
The NIP conference and exhibitions are designed specifically to meet the educational needs of practice nurses and other primary care specialists, and Combating Obesity believes there is much education required in the field of obesity, especially when it comes to communicating with obese patients.
“We understand that nutrition and exercise are an important factor with obese patients, however care must be taken to avoid stigmatising individuals who are vulnerable – as identified by the European Parliament. This is where our programme can help.” Patricia concluded.
More information on Combating Obesity’s training programmes can be found at http://www.combatingobesity.org.uk/training.html or call 0871 704 1939.
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