ArticleAnnals of family medicine
Participants' explanatory model of being overweight and their experiences of 2 weight loss interventions.
Article in Annals of family medicine. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- The importance of service-users' perspectives: A systematic review of qualitative evidence reveals overlooked critical features of weight management programmes.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2018Pooled it
- Weight change among people randomized to minimal intervention control groups in weight loss trials.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2016Pooled it
- Is self-weighing an effective tool for weight loss: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2015Pooled it
- Behavioural weight management programmes for adults assessed by trials conducted in everyday contexts: systematic review and meta-analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2014Pooled it
- Trial
- Mechanisms of Action in a Behavioral Weight-Management Program: Latent Growth Curve Analysis.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2022Trial
- The experiences of postnatal women and healthcare professionals of a brief weight management intervention embedded within the national child immunisation programme.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2021Trial
- The equity impact of brief opportunistic interventions to promote weight loss in primary care: secondary analysis of the BWeL randomised trial.BMC medicine · 2019Trial
- A brief intervention for weight control based on habit-formation theory delivered through primary care: results from a randomised controlled trial.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2017Trial
- Experiences of a commercial weight-loss programme after primary care referral: a qualitative study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2015Trial
- Personalizing a Weight Loss Program Using Cognitive-Behavioral Phenotypes to Improve Engagement and Weight Loss in Adults With Overweight or Obesity: Quasi-Experimental Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- An Assessment of Weight Loss Management in Health System Primary Care Practices.Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM · 2023Article
- "Is it time to throw out the weighing scales?" Implicit weight bias among healthcare professionals working in bariatric surgery services and their attitude towards non-weight focused approaches.EClinicalMedicine · 2023Article
- Participants' experiences of mental health during a COVID-19 tailored ACT-based behavioural weight management intervention: a qualitative study.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2022Article
- Understanding the Experience of Service Users in an Integrated Care Programme for Obesity and Mental Health: A Qualitative Investigation of Total Wellbeing Luton.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Exploring attributions of causality for child undernutrition: Qualitative analysis in Lusaka, Zambia.Maternal & child nutrition · 2022Article
- Article
- Pilot randomised controlled trial of Weight Watchers® referral with or without dietitian-led group support for weight loss in women treated for breast cancer: the BRIGHT (BReast cancer weIGHT loss) trial.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2019Article
- Screening and brief intervention for obesity in primary care: a parallel, two-arm, randomised trial.Lancet (London, England) · 2016Article
- Inequalities in the uptake of weight management interventions in a pragmatic trial: an observational study in primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2016Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeWe explored participants' accounts of weight loss interventions to illuminate the reasons behind the greater weight loss observed among those attending a commercial program compared with those receiving standard care in a recent large-scale trial. We further wanted to examine how participants' general explanatory model of being overweight related to the 2 different interventions.
methodsOur study was based on thematic analysis of semistructured telephone interviews with a purposeful sample of 16 female participants from the UK center of a randomized controlled trial of weight loss in primary care.
resultsThe commercial provider delivered weight management in a nonmedical context, which mirrors how participants regard being overweight. Participants felt they needed support and motivation rather than education, and valued the ease of access and frequent contact the commercial provider offered. Some participants preferred individual level support with their primary care clinician, and all were positive about the opportunity to access support through the primary care setting.
conclusionsPrimary care referral to a commercial weight loss program for people who do not require specific clinical care appears to be in accord with their general explanatory model about being overweight, offering motivation and support to lose weight outside a strictly medical context. This approach may not be effective or acceptable for everyone, however, and there are likely to be considerable variations in the explanatory models held. Findings support the argument that a range of evidence-based options for weight management should be available in primary care.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.