The Essential Need for Person-Centered Care in Obesity
It is remarkable that actual caring can be hard to find in healthcare. This is especially true for persons living with obesity. But it can make a significant difference for well-being and satisfaction with care. New research by Paige Crompvoets and colleagues offers us valuable insights into this concern, examining the relationship of person-centered care to outcomes for people living with obesity.
Physical and Social Well-Being
Crompvoets et al collected cross-sectional data from an online sample of 590 Dutch persons living with obesity. They collected data for a 40-item person-centered obesity care instrument assessing eight dimensions of this perspective on clinical care. Those dimensions include patient preferences, physical comfort, care coordination, emotional support, access to care, continuity, information and education, and family and friends.
Access to care – a chronic problem in obesity – emerged as the most important dimension for patients. Coordination of care landed at the bottom of the rankings for importance. The most significant findings, though, were that overall ratings for the person-centeredness of care positively predicted the outcomes for physical and social well-being, as well as for satisfaction with care. This observation held true after controlling for sex, age, marital status, education level, BMI, and chronic illness.
Promise for Improved Outcomes
Crompvoets concludes:
“Person-centered care holds promise for improved outcomes among patients living with obesity, both in terms of physical and social well-being, as well as satisfaction with care. This is an important finding, particularly when considering the profound physical, social, and psychological consequences associated with obesity.”
Why?
Of course, many questions remain for future research to answer. But the fundamental question we must consider is: why? When care is integral to the definition of healthcare, why should it be so hard to find actual caring that centers on the person who is seeking it?
Most people who choose careers in healthcare make that choice because of a desire to care for others. But systems of healthcare make it hard because measures of productivity are easier to track than the more abstract qualities of caring. Indifferent care can meet performance measures. Taking time to express care can be incidental at best, a distraction at worst.
Person-centered care will become more important when systems of care place more value on it.
Click here for the new research by Crompvoets et al and here for further perspective from Michelle Cardel and colleagues.
Four Persons in a Village, painting by Ossip Zadkine / WikiArt
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August 12, 2024
August 12, 2024 at 8:56 am, Hanneke Niessink said:
I have been obese all my life. When I was young, doctors would never believe me when I told them how little I was eating. Surely I was lying, and I was put on another 600 calories-a-day diet. Those diets did more harm that good, and for many years I was reluctant to go a doctor, no matter what was wrong with me. Even when I went in with e.g. a virus infection, I would be told that I was eating too much and needed to lose weight.
It was not just a lack of care, it was discrimination and a complete disbelief in the fact that not all bodies react the same way to small amounts of food and excercise. I am absolutely sure that I am not the only obese person with these experiences. All we need and want is to be treated like any other patient. Nothing more, nothing less.
August 12, 2024 at 9:19 am, Ted said:
Hanneke, I am very sorry for those experiences you have had to endure and you are certainly not alone in this. What I will say is that there are also many health professionals that work to understand obesity and meet the need for empathetic, person-centered care. It is easy to despair because this is not the norm, but these providers can be found. Believe in yourself and seek the care that you need and deserve.
August 12, 2024 at 10:19 am, Trisha L. said:
Dear Hanneke, I’m sorry to hear about your lifetime of experience with healthcare “professionals.” Many patients have shared similar stories, with every ailment (ear infections, etc.) being attributed to their weight. This type of care reflects ignorance and laziness by providers. It is easier to blame the patient instead of providing a thorough assessment & compassionate, quality care. As Ted noted, there are some excellent providers who understand the complexity of obesity. Please find one who shows you the respect you deserve (the same treatment & respect EVERY patient deserves).