Evaluation of The Group Visits Method Used in Obesity Management

Introduction: Obesity is defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation, which poses a risk to health by the World Health Organization and many other areas of expertise. There are many complex mechanisms in the etiology of obesity. Obesity, like its etiology, causes diverse biopsychosocial cultural and existential disorders. Because of this complexity in both the etiology and the outcomes, the treatment of obesity should be customized. However, this is not possible due to the high number of daily patient log in the primary care. The aim of this study was to investigate the group visits (GV) used for obesity management in primary care. Method: The study was planned as a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods. In the quantitative part of the study, an 11-item evaluation form was used. The five-point Likert scores were calculated as mean and standard deviation. Following the evaluation of quantitative data, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted in order to examine the GV in more detail and to find answers to the why and how questions. COREQ-Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research was used in the structuring and reporting phase of the qualitative study. Results: The mean age of the study was 37.6 ± 10.3 years. Among these responses, items with the highest score (good / very good) were the participants' responses to understanding the importance of nutrition and exercise. In the qualitative part; 1) positive effects 2) negative effects 3) sustained healthy lifestyle changes 4) motivations 5) suggestions for GV, five themes were reached. Conclusion: GV can be applied in the management of obesity in line with the principles of family medicine discipline and can be made more effective with the improvements determined in this study. Giris: Obezite, Dunya Saglik Orgutu ve diger bir cok uzmanlik alani tarafindan “saglik icin risk olusturacak sekilde anormal ya da asiri yag birikimi” olarak tanimlanmaktadir. Obezitenin etiyolojisinde bircok kompleks mekanizma yer almaktadir. Obezite, etiyolojisine benzer bicimde biyopsikososyal kulturel ve varolussal cok cesitli rahatsizliklara yol acmaktadir. Hem etiyolojisinde hem de sonuclarindaki bu karmasik yapi nedeniyle obezitenin tedavisi bireye ozgu olmalidir. Ancak birinci basamaktaki gunluk hasta basvurularindaki yogunluk nedeniyle bu pek mumkun olamamaktadir. Bu calismada, birinci basamakta obezite yonetimi icin kullanilmis olan grup gorusmeleri (GG) yonteminin incelenmesi amaclanmistir. Yontem: Calisma niceliksel ve niteliksel arastirma yontemlerinin bir arada kullanildigi bir calisma olarak planlandi. Arastirmanin nicel bolumunde arastirmacilar tarafindan olusturulan 11 soruluk degerlendirme formu kullanildi. Besli Likert puanlari ortalama ve standart sapma olarak hesaplandi. Nicel verilerin degerlendirilmesinin ardindan GG’leri  daha detayli incelemek ve ortaya cikan neden-nasil sorularina yanit aramak amaciyla yari yapilandirilmis derinlemesine gorusmeler yapildi. Nitel calismanin yapilandirilmasi ve raporlanmasi asamasinda ise Niteliksel Arastirmayi Raporlamak icin Konsolide Kriterler Kilavuzu (COREQ-Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research) kullanildi. Bulgular: Calismanin nicel kisminda yas ortalamasi 37,6 ± 10,3 bulundu. Bu yanitlar arasinda en yuksek puani (iyi/cok iyi derece) alan maddeler, katilimcilarin beslenme ve egzersizin onemini kavramaya yonelik yanitlarina aitti. Nitel kisminda; 1) olumlu etkiler 2) olumsuz etkiler 3) surdurulebilen saglikli yasam tarzi degisiklikleri 4) motivasyonlari 5) GG ile ilgili onerileri, olmak uzere bes temaya ulasildi. Sonuc: GG, obezitenin yonetiminde, aile hekimligi disiplinin ilkeleri dogrultusunda uygulanabilir ve bu calismada belirlenen iyilestirmelerle daha etkili hale getirilebilir.