The development of a minimal intervention strategy to address overweight and obesity in adult primary care patients in The Netherlands

Background. Currently, overweight and obesity do not receive the attention they deserve from the Dutch GPs, mostly because of a lack of an effective intervention strategy to tackle this difficult health problem. Objective. To develop a minimal intervention strategy (MIS) addressing overweight and obesity among adult primary care patients, resulting in a prototype. Methods. Following the intervention mapping protocol, the MIS is based on literature study, existing interventions, psychosocial theories, stakeholder interviews and a questionnaire study among stakeholders. This led to the development of a prototype of the MIS materials: a screening flow chart and a treatment flow chart, a manual and patient education materials. A pre-test among 42 general practitioners and practice nurses was conducted to investigate the usefulness of the MIS materials at first sight. Results. The stakeholder interviews and the questionnaire study resulted in insight on what the MIS should look like. For instance, the stakeholders indicated that the treatment needs to focus on helping patients to eat more healthy and exercise more, using techniques like motivational interviewing. The pre-test showed that most participants were enthusiastic about the materials, although they made some suggestions on improvements. Conclusion. The MIS materials seem to be useful and promising. A future pilot test is needed to investigate its usefulness in daily practice and to further improve the materials in preparation for a process and effect evaluation.