title: Physical Activity in Clinical Pediatric Weight Management Programs: Current Practices and Recommendations.
abstract: Physical activity (PA) is essential for youth weight management. FOCUS on a Fitter Future (FFF), a group of health care professionals from 25 children's hospitals, sponsored by the Children's Hospital Association, examined current care practices for overweight and obese youth with the goal of building consensus on outcome measurements and quality improvement for pediatric weight management programs (WMPs). WMPs completed a survey regarding PA practices, including testing, assessment and intervention. Consistency in general treatment practices was noted with variability in implementation. All programs included PA assessment and counseling. A majority of programs measured aerobic fitness, and more than half evaluated muscular fitness. Most offered group exercise sessions. Programs differed in availability of resources, assessment tools, interventions and outcome measures. Based on current practice and research, the FFF PA subgroup recommends key components for inclusion in a pediatric WMP: exercise testing, body composition assessment, PA and sedentary behaviors measures, individual exercise counseling, and group exercise programming.
authors.affiliation: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA christopher.kist@cchmc.org.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kist
authors.affiliation: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gier
authors.affiliation: Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, Grand Rapids, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Jared
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tucker
authors.affiliation: Healthy Hearts Clinic, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, Oakland, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Teresa F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Barbieri
authors.affiliation: Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Sonya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Johnson-Branch
authors.affiliation: Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes, Florida Hospital for Children, Orlando, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Lindy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: Optimal Weight for Life Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Picard
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital Association, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Gloria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lukasiewicz
authors.affiliation: The Goldberg Center for Community Pediatric Health, Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Nailah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Coleman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods*; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000517:prevention & control*; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000379:methods*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic
keywords: childhood; exercise; obesity; pediatrics; weight management