title: Training in childhood obesity management in the United States: a survey of pediatric, internal medicine-pediatrics and family medicine residency program directors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Information about the availability and effectiveness of childhood obesity training during residency is limited.
  
  
  METHODS
  We surveyed residency program directors from pediatric, internal medicine-pediatrics (IM-Peds), and family medicine residency programs between September 2007 and January 2008 about childhood obesity training offered in their programs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The response rate was 42.2% (299/709) and ranged by specialty from 40.1% to 45.4%. Overall, 52.5% of respondents felt that childhood obesity training in residency was extremely important, and the majority of programs offered training in aspects of childhood obesity management including prevention (N = 240, 80.3%), diagnosis (N = 282, 94.3%), diagnosis of complications (N = 249, 83.3%), and treatment (N = 242, 80.9%). However, only 18.1% (N = 54) of programs had a formal childhood obesity curriculum with variability across specialties. Specifically, 35.5% of IM-Peds programs had a formal curriculum compared to only 22.6% of pediatric and 13.9% of family medicine programs (p < 0.01). Didactic instruction was the most commonly used training method but was rated as only somewhat effective by 67.9% of respondents using this method. The most frequently cited significant barrier to implementing childhood obesity training was competing curricular demands (58.5%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While most residents receive training in aspects of childhood obesity management, deficits may exist in training quality with a minority of programs offering a formal childhood obesity curriculum. Given the high prevalence of childhood obesity, a greater emphasis should be placed on development and use of effective training strategies suitable for all specialties training physicians to care for children.
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology, Children's Hospital Boston, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Margaret S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Wolff
authors.forename: Erinn T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Rhodes
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Ludwig
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004501:Education, Medical; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008511:Medicine; D009765:Obesity / Q000628:therapy*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States