An effective model of care needs to look across the health system. In this way it can:
Health professionals can visit the Resource Hub for support to deliver the best care to children and adults across the lifespan.
Enabling environments, communities and places that encourage positive health behaviours.
Appropriate treatment and management of children and adults who are living with overweight or obesity.
Multi-component health behaviour interventions in combination with medical treatment.
Population-level impact on health and wellbeing considers sustainable and equitable improvements in nutrition, physical activity and weight. Engaging with diverse communities and stakeholders is integral to ensuring actions are inclusive, equitable and effective. Working with priority population groups including First Nations peoples, people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, people living in rural and remote areas, children and young people, people with disabilities and those who identify as LGBTIQ+, inform co-design of tailored and targeted solutions that will help meet different needs and circumstances.
Queensland Government departments and agencies, local government, NGOs, HHSs, PHNs, Academia.
Enabling environments, communities and places that encourage positive health behaviours.
Many Queenslanders are living, playing and aging in environments which contribute to overweight and obesity. In Queensland, 74% of children aged 5-17 years are underweight or within the healthy weight range, while 26% are living with overweight or obesity (18% overweight, 8% obesity).[1]
Promotion of positive health behaviours requires political commitment, collaboration across all sectors of society, and a broad focus which considers all factors that contribute to health behaviour change. The approach needs to be equitable, with a particular focus on priority communities.[2]
Significant health inequities exist across the Queensland population. Certain vulnerable groups, including those of low socioeconomic background or education level, First Nations people, Māori and Pacific Islander people, and some CALD communities, have a higher risk of living with overweight or obesity than the general Queensland population.[1] Rates of obesity in children living in lower socioeconomic areas are higher than in higher socioeconomic areas.[2] People living with overweight and obesity are more likely to live in regional and remote areas, compared to major cities; and First Nations adults are more likely to live with obesity than non-Indigenous adults.[1-3]
Health and Wellbeing Queensland (HWQld) focuses on health promotion and prevention in Queensland. We take a collaborative approach, partnering with the community, NGOs, private sector and all levels of government as well as sectors not typically associated with health care services. HWQld aims to improve the health and wellbeing of Queenslanders, reduce health inequity and reduce the burden of chronic disease through targeting health behaviour changes such as nutrition and physical activity.[4] Strengthening the inter-connected system, governance and partnerships aims to facilitate shared action and investment in prevention across Queensland.
Learn about our Making Healthy Happen and Gather and Grow programs.
ConnectingQ is a network supported by an online platform, co-designed to empower practitioners from local government, community and health sectors to connect, collaborate and exchange knowledge, with the shared objective of creating active and healthy communities. ConnectingQ provides accessible and engaging content, including practical resources, and learning opportunities across sectors and regions in Queensland. Visit the ConnectingQ website and join the network to stay connected and support sustainable, healthy communities across Queensland.
Primary health care providers, including GPs, child health nurses, practice nurses, First Nations health workers, allied health professionals, NGOs, AMSs and ACCHOs.
Raising the topic of health behaviours, monitoring weight, height and waist circumference, identifying risk to enable early intervention, and managing appropriately positive health behaviours.
Primary health care has an important role in preventing and managing overweight and obesity and other modifiable risk factors such as poor nutrition, physical inactivity, alcohol consumption, smoking and vaping. Discussing these risk factors, regardless of a person’s weight, is key to helping reduce future chronic disease risk. These health behaviour focused conversations are an important part of preventative health care for all individuals.
Perfectly positioned to support a person’s health needs long term, primary health care providers can provide anticipatory guidance to parents, families, children and adults to support healthy weight and health related behaviours.[4-9] Maintaining a healthy weight is associated with a lower risk of a wide range of chronic conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and some cancers.[10] Weight is impacted by many social, economic, and environmental factors, which are important to consider for every individual. Routine weight, height and waist circumference assessments as part of a holistic assessment are important to determine overall health risk. As waist circumference can indicate visceral adiposity, incorporating waist circumference measures alongside BMI can provide an indication of weight distribution.
Research has shown that patients value the advice of trusted health care providers and expect health behaviours to be discussed as part of routine consultations, whilst ensuring a person-centred approach.[1, 5] Supporting health behaviour change requires an understanding of a patient’s readiness, motivation and confidence. Encouraging patient driven behaviour change with an emphasis on small and sustainable changes can make a big difference long term.
Children living with overweight and obesity should be managed in primary health care using multi-disciplinary services coordinated by the primary health care provider, unless referral to hospital or specialist services is indicated. For further support on management within Primary Care, view the Resource Hub.
Preventive health starts early – 1 in 5 Australian children are living with overweight or obesity by the age of 5.[3] Overweight and obesity in childhood can progress into adulthood, increasing disease biomarkers and the risk of cardiovascular disease, Type 2 Diabetes, stroke and poor mental health.[1][2][4]
Parents and caregivers are the primary influence on the development of eating habits, physical activity and sedentary behaviours with parenting styles playing a role in developing healthy habits. However, the ability of families to make nutritious food and physical activity choices is challenging in Australia’s environment.[3]
Small but sustainable changes can have lifelong positive outcomes. Preventive health is key to this. Connection to local programs can provide valuable support, helping individuals achieve better health outcomes.
Health and Wellbeing Queensland is supporting Queenslanders with initiatives that make healthy happen.
Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) (e.g. Specialist Doctors, Endocrinologist, Dietitian, Psychologist, Physiotherapist/Exercise Physiologist, Nurse).
Multi-component health interventions in combination with medical treatment.
Treatment options for managing people living with overweight and obesity in hospital and specialist services include multi-component lifestyle interventions in combination with medical treatment. Multi-component interventions are associated with successful outcomes.
Interventions need to consider the person’s living, working and social environment. They need to involve frequent contact with a healthcare professional and this is determined by the level of support required by the individual child or adult.[12-13]
For children, solutions should be family-based, multimodal behavioural interventions. For children and adults, effective delivery of high-quality care to achieve clinically meaningful behaviour change should include:[15]
For adults, when behaviour changes are not successful and/or when rapid weight loss is required, additional intervention strategies may be necessary, including pharmacotherapy or very low energy diets (VLEDs).[2][4]
When interventions including very low energy diets (VLEDs) and pharmacotherapy are not successful, bariatric surgery in adults may be considered as part of a comprehensive approach for management of weight-related health and wellbeing.[5]
Health Professionals providing face-to-face care to children and adults.
To upskill in best-practice prevention, treatment and management of people living with overweight and obesity to provide evidence-based care locally.
Targeted online and face-to-face education modules that incorporate healthy eating, physical activity, sleep patterns and behaviour modification for children and families.
Healthy Kids ECHO® Learning Series
Our ECHO® Learning Series ‘Healthy Kids’ focuses on supporting professionals to deliver best-practice care to the families in their communities. The series provides mentoring, evidence-based advice, and support to professionals who consult with children and young people who may be living with overweight or obesity, so they can deliver care with empathy, confidence and success. This is especially important for communities that lack access to specialists due to remoteness, economic disadvantage, cultural barriers or other factors.
Each ECHO® session consists of a short didactic presentation by a specialist followed by a paediatric case presentation by a participant. Delivery is through an interactive, online platform—the only requirements for participation are an internet connection and a device with webcam. It is free of charge.
Clinicians Hub is brought to you by Health and Wellbeing Queensland in partnership with Allied Health Profession’s Office of Queensland, Clinical Excellence Queensland.
© Health and Wellbeing Queensland 2020
Health and Wellbeing Queensland acknowledges the Traditional Owners and custodians of the lands from across Queensland. We pay our respects to the Elders past and present for they are holders of the memories, traditions, the culture and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Queensland.
