Abeer Al-Ghawi

Aim: To examine the opinions of physicians in Bahrain regarding their role in obesity control, and to evaluate their knowledge, attitudes and practices towards obesity prevention and management in primary health care.Design: A cross-sectional survey of physicians in Bahrain. A single-stage cluster sample was used, which included twelve health centres and 107 physicians. Ninety-seven physicians participated in the study with a 90 % response rate. A self-administered questionnaire was used to measure physicians’ knowledge and practices, their perceived role and potential limitations. Correction for design effect and finite population were considered in the analysis.Results: The majority of physicians in Bahrain (92 %) were aware of the obesity epidemic and 60 % of them felt capable of assuming a major role in obesity control, regardless of their negative views towards the success rates of weight management. Only 36 % agreed that they had effective weight-management practices. They were knowledgeable about weight-loss goals and showed a reasonable level of obesity identification, especially as part of chronic disease care (71 %). Physicians reported a high rate of utilization of various weight-loss strategies, except for pharmacotherapy and surgery. The major barriers identified in patient care included time constraints (91 %), lack of specialty clinics (81 %), absence of guidelines (78 %) and an inadequate number of dietitians (71 %). Sixty-four per cent reported that training in lifestyle counselling and behaviour modification are important requirements.Conclusions: Physicians in Bahrain showed a reasonable level of interest in participating in obesity prevention and management. It seems that there would be a good opportunity for better practice if physicians were supported with appropriate training and the constraints of their working environment were adequately addressed.