A quality initiative to improve healthcare providers management of obesity in menopausal women

Background: Obesity in menopausal women is a growing health care concern. The incidence of obesity among women between the ages of 40 to 60 in 2017-2018 was 45%. Women have a higher prevalence of severe obesity (11.5%) as compared with men (6.9%) (CDC, 2020). Healthcare providers (HCPs) play an important role in managing obesity. However, evidence based treatments are rarely implemented in primary care. Purpose: To improve HCPs obesity management and reduce weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and body fat percentage in menopausal women between the ages of 45 to 65 years old. Methods: A before and after design was used to implement an educational intervention for HCPs and a weight management protocol. HCPs attended educational sessions on the implementation of the weight management protocol. Results: The weight management protocol was successfully implemented 100 % (N = 30) in all eligible patients at baseline, 99% (N= 25) at week 4, 93% (N = 28) at week 8, and 100 % (N = 30) at week 12. Patient outcomes showed a significant reduction in weight (M= -12.41 ± SD = 0.48, 6.0%), BMI (M = -2.20 ± SD = 0.05, 7.0%), WC (M = -3.74 ± SD = 0.57, 9.0%), and BFP (M = - 3.09 ± 0.01, 7.0%). Implications: The results of this project show that HCPs knowledge after the delivery of an evidence-based educational activity improved and that the implementation of a weight management protocol showed to be an effective strategy in screening and managing obesity in menopausal women