Facilitators and Barriers of Food Journaling Measures In A Rural Weight Management Clinical Setting

Grant E. DuVall* and Treah Haggerty

Department of Family Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26505

Presentation Category: Biological & Biochemical Sciences (Poster Presentation #97)

Student’s Major: Biology

An important health issue needing addressed in the nation and more specifically, West Virginia, is metabolic syndrome and obesity. Addressing metabolic syndrome and obesity is best done so through multidisciplinary primary care and holistic behavioral modification. Recently, technology that enables people to track their food choices has gained popularity, but very few clinical studies have been conducted on its implications in physician-assisted weight loss in Appalachia. Food journaling, when used consistently, can help patients with weight loss, choosing healthier meals, measuring portion intakes, and determining common diet trends. Self-monitoring has become an integral part of treatment interventions and lifestyle modifications that often come with clinically addressed weight loss. This is an implementation study in an academic outpatient primary care setting. The implementation site of this food journaling study serves approximately 11,000 patients per year. During their first follow-up weight loss appointment, processed patients will answer survey questions on their history and attitudes surrounding food journaling and the barriers and facilitators of its use. While this study is in its preliminary stages, the clinic is receiving promising results of survey completion and hopeful utilization of this data for photo food journaling as an option for prescribed behavioral modification. The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate food journaling behaviors within a metabolic weight loss clinic including program choices, facilitators, and barriers to consistent food journaling; secondarily, to analyze how rurality affects these factors.

Funding:

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: My efforts were mainly voluntary.