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Family Health Weight Programs (FHWPs) or Intensive Health Behavior Lifestyle Treatment (IHBLT) are proven strategies to improve health outcomes for children identified with obesity – and health centers are bringing them home. Community Health Centers have transformed these programs beyond a diagnosis with short counseling to a more fulfilling, tailored, and supportive experience for families.
Over the past five years in Florida, Mississippi, Colorado, and Arizona, NACHC and the CDC partnered with health centers (our “Legacy Teams”) to implement creative approaches to FHWPs based on Clinical Practice Guidelines. Insights from these health centers are captured in NACHC’s new Family Healthy Weight Program Implementation Guide, released in May 2024.
After selecting clinical quality measures to address the pediatric obesity problem, NACHC and our Legacy Teams used a human-centered approach to adjust family healthy weight program models for the health center setting. This work led many of our health centers to expand services beyond the clinic doors to places our patients like to go, such as a local park or neighboring YMCA.
The goal: to create an enriching experience for everyone involved.
With clarity around what to evaluate, where to offer programs, and why to offer family-based services, our Legacy teams uncovered solutions to address common challenges such as weight stigma, access to healthy food or places to exercise, and access to relevant emotional or educational support. They took their patient insights and tapped into the many unique assets that can be found at their health center including the space, staff, cultural and linguistic expertise, and community connections.
By modifying existing FHWPs to meet the community needs of patients, health center teams enjoyed tailoring lessons, class locations, and creative modalities for FHWPs. Billable staff were engaged to ensure revenue could be generated and enable children and parents to access their full care team for more motivational, long-term family-centered health. Most of all, they learned these programs are very fun.
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