Facing the challenges?

Health care workers’ (HCW) experiences of working with families with obese children have received little attention. Through understanding how to conceive encounters with the families, treatment may be improved. A qualitative design with three focus group interviews and an analysis inspired by Malterud’s guidelines was used. Six district nurses, one GP, one physiotherapist and one nurse participated, all with experience from working with families and children living with a weight problem. The following challenges were met by the respondents when meeting the families; It was hard to raise the issue of a child’s obesity, the dropout rate from treatment was high, and the families often responded with defensive explanations to conceal the severity of the problem. In response, HCW tried to counsel the parents how to use problem solving skills. HCW found it challenging to motivate parents, children and adolescents without threatening their integrity. Lack of time was a barrier and resources for implementing the treatment was needed. Further, insufficient cooperation between levels of the health care services was a burden. HCW found it challenging, but interesting, to collaborate with families with obese children. HCW found it hard to stay motivated when councelling families who were unable to perform changes in lifestyle. An effort should be made to educate more skilled professionals to handle the complexity of this work.