Solutions Created for Families
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.
Solutions Created by Families
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.
Health Center Staff Say It Works – and Patients Say They Love It
- Joy Mockbee, Family Physician at El Rio Community Health Center in Tucson, AZ, shares her experience: “A lot of times, families and kids have had very negative experiences around healthy lifestyle messages and their weight. Weight stigma is real. It’s been important to take that into account as we developed our program. We present this as a fun energetic way to engage. There’s no blame or feeling bad about yourself or your behaviors. Our program has been shaped for simple learning and it introduces fun opportunities that make you feel great.”
- Yolanda Davis, Exercise Leader at G.A. Carmichael Family Health Center in Canton, MS, says, “We created a hybrid program to make our classes easier for participants to join. I watched two young ladies, Porsha and Cordes, go from sedentary to developing a love for the outdoors. They got their whole family involved in sampling and including new food in their diet. Their excitement just oozed from the screen during weekly Zoom sessions and that brought me pure joy. These family healthy weight programs let us see the fruit of our labor manifest.”
- Gloria Irigoyen-Montijo, Fitness Program Supervisor at El Rio, says, “Even though it takes a lot of work and commitment, especially at first, it’s worth it. You’ll see that you strengthen family relationships and heal families’ relationships with both food and movement.”
Staff Benefit Too
It’s not just patients who enjoy participating in these programs. Jessica Wallace from Denver Health, a PA and leader of this national initiative, explains, “This project lets us understand how health center staff can shape FHWPs to become more meaningful and culturally relevant for different patient groups. We learned a wide range of staff can contribute, including billable staff, and we saw real satisfaction in their experiences.”
You can Bring FHWPs to Your Health Center
NACHC collected meaningful insights and actions over these past five years, and we’re excited to share what we learned with you. The Family Healthy Weight Program Implementation Guide breaks it down. It’s designed to help other FQHCs do this work and avoid pain points, so you’re set for success. It includes information on:
- Leveraging leadership support
- Planning for space and technology
- Working through recruitment and retention goals
- Collecting data and measuring success
- Sustainability
Watch this Video
Share this short video with leaders at your health center to show how a pediatric obesity diagnosis can be successfully addressed without stigma, and with long-lasting behavioral health solutions.
To learn more, https://www.nachc.org/topic/pediatric-health/ or email Nsmith@nachc.com.