Fitwits MD™: An office-based tool and games for conversations about obesity with 9- to 12-year-old children

Background: physician feelings of ineffectiveness and family-related barriers hamper childhood obesity discussions. physicians desire appealing,time-efficient tools to frame and sensitively address obesity,body mass index,physical activity,nutrition,and portion size. our university design-led coalition codeveloped tools and games for this purpose. methods: in this feasibility study,we evaluated physician-level counseling of 9- to 12-year-old children and their parents/caretakers using fitwits md (carnegie mellon university school of design,pittsburgh,pa),a brief,structured intervention with flashcards and take-home games. residency-based physicians in three low- to mid-level socioeconomic urban offices provided self-report data over 8 months through surveys,comment cards,and interviews. results: we recruited 33 physicians and 93 preadolescents and families. child-centered key messages resulted in 7-minute conversations,on average. for those physicians who used fitwits md,96% felt improved comfort and competence and 78% noted barrier reduction. conclusions: fitwits md improved residency-based physician self-efficacy and emphasized important health education topics regarding office-based childhood obesity discussions with preadolescents and parents/caretakers.