Workshop: Obesity in young people with physical disabilities

The prevalence of overweight and obesity in children with physical disabilities (CWPD) is 2-3 times that of their non-disabled peers, threatening the increased life expectancy made possible by other medical advances.

Many clinicians report substantial challenges in assessing, discussing and managing the weight of CWPD and there appears to be a tension between a desire to address weight-management, attending to children’s other (sometimes considerable) medical and psychosocial needs, and fear of causing harm.

This is the topic of a half-day workshop on Wednesday, April 29th, 2015, at the Canadian Obesity Summit, which will provide an overview of current research on the identification, management and prevention of obesity in CWPD.

The impact of obesity on service utilization and outcomes will be examined, as well as key weight-related issues faced by clinicians working with CWPD.

Research detailing the self-identified needs of children and their parents will be presented, grounding the workshop in the patient voice. The presenters and their research teams represent leading multi-disciplinary researchers, who are also members of a newly formed network of Canadian researchers working in health promotion and childhood disability.

This network is one outcome of a CIHR- funded, international consensus-building workshop, aiming to build knowledge-generating capacity within Canada around weight-related issues for CWPD.

This workshop therefore offers a critical opportunity to share knowledge, raise awareness and build capacity in this vastly under-researched area.

For more information on this workshop at the Canadian Obesity Summit click here

@DrSharma
Gurgaon, Haryana