There's a whole lotta excitement and celebration going on around here.
I've been asked time and again, "What is the evidence that Family in Focus is effective?"
And my response, "I'm creating the evidence."
While that can seem like a mic-drop moment, it can also be an insufficient answer.
The truth is that it is honest.
In medicine in particular, we are always looking for the evidence to back up how we are providing care. We want to know that it is effective. But where does that come from?
Someone has to be the first to say, "Hey, I think there's a better way to do this. I don't have proof... yet."
Hi. That's me.
Until now. I'm creating the proof.
I am celebrating that my team (yes, it is a team!) has received the final approval to open a study of our Family in Focus program. We are studying it to ask the important questions about what happens when we teach parents the tools to look beyond weight, to question cultural food and health beliefs, and empower to create a holistic health at home.
Ok, the questions in the study look a bit different from that. It's taking validated measures of well-being, food competence (yes, I learned that was a thing), self-efficacy, and the qualitative input from parents.
That means taking their words, their feelings, their actions and understanding how it is impacting their lives, health and family.
What we aren't doing, by design? We are NOT defining success off of the scale. There are no measurements of baseline or end-point BMI, weight or A1C. Those measurements may have a role in other studies or evaluations, but not here. It's one more thing that makes this program holistic and so very novel.
The whole person, not just the weight.
The whole family, not just the one who is singled out today based on a number.
I invite you to take a listen to the podcast episode, where I go a bit more into the background, as well as where we are focusing AND celebrating.
And I thank you for celebrating with us. We are growing. Lots of growing pains... and it's totally worth it!
MWAH.
Check out the Family in Focus with Wendy Schofer, MD Podcast!
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