Weight Management for Children With Disabilities: Exploring the Perspectives of Health Care Professionals Working in Pediatric Weight Management Clinics in Canada

Background: Children with disabilities are twice as likely to have overweight/obesity than their typically developing peers. Higher weights in these individuals may compound challenges already experienced with their disability, including mobility and activities of daily living. However, children with disabilities often find it challenging accessing weight management care. It is therefore important to understand the experiences and needs of the health care professionals (HCPs) who work in specialized pediatric weight management clinics about providing weight-related care to children with disabilities. Methods: Employing an interpretive description approach, purposeful sampling was used to recruit 17 HCP participants working in pediatric weight management settings in Canada. Qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted online or via telephone. All interview recordings were transcribed and a reflexive thematic analysis approach was used to develop themes from the data. Results: Four themes were developed: (1) infrequent referrals leads to a lack of experience with children with disabilities; (2) adapting group-based clinics can be challenging; (3) perceived lack of disability-specific knowledge causes moral distress; and (4) disability-specific training and greater interdisciplinary collaboration are desired. Conclusions: This work identifies the urgent need for more evidence-based, specialized, weight-related treatment options for children with disabilities, as well as more support for HCPs working in existing programs.