# MRWeight: Medical Residents Learning Weight Management Counseling Skills -- A Multi-Modal, Technology-Assisted, Spaced Education Program

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER · 2024 · $711,223

## Abstract

7. Project Summary/Abstract
Overweight and obesity have reached epidemic proportions in the United States, proving to be a very difficult
health challenge for both patients and the physicians who care for them. Excess weight is a major contributor to
heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. Addressing overweight and obesity in clinical visits is critical to
treating and preventing these obesity-associated diseases. However, Weight Management Counseling (WMC)
uptake is low, and physicians report lack of training as a critical barrier to WMC. Residency training is a crucial
time to influence physicians' current and future practice, yet there is no evidence-supported WMC curriculum for
residents. Informed by two pilot studies, MRWeight will use spaced-education to train residents to deliver WMC
using the 5As framework (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange) and patient-centered counseling. As such,
MRWeight will be delivered in short segments and spaced over 12 months using four components: didactic
session 1 – a discussion of WMC foundational concepts; 3Ps program (Prepare, Practice, Process) – an email
program using the Video-based Communication Assessment (VCA) to facilitate practice of challenging cases;
didactic session 2 – a discussion of key barriers to practicing WMC; and email reinforcement of concepts covered
in the preceding components. Each component, guided by Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), is designed to build
on and reinforce the training provided by the other components. Using a pair-matched group randomized
controlled trial (RCT) including 8 Internal Medicine residency programs, we will test the MRWeight intervention
with 3 cohorts of postgraduate year 1 residents followed for 18 months. Comparison arm residents will be emailed
the PowerPoint of a foundational course on WMC, but unlike those in the Intervention, comparison sites will not
include the didactic sessions or the 3Ps program. Our aims are: Aim 1 will evaluate the effectiveness of the
MRWeight Intervention for increasing residents' WMC skills at 12 months; Aim 2 will evaluate residents' self-
reported adoption of WMC skills in their encounters with patients in clinical practice at 18 months; Aim 3 will
explore possible mechanisms (mediators) and moderators of the intervention's effect on Aim 1 and 2 outcomes
(residents' WMC skills and adoption). The study will be the first large trial to test a curriculum that has been
integrated into Internal Medicine residency programs for teaching WMC skills. The multi-PIs (Drs. Ockene and
Sadasivam) will build on 36-years of successfully conducting large, randomized trials to evaluate training
programs, including those that taught the 5As and patient-centered counseling for WMC, in 18 medical schools,
10 residency sites, and 10 primary care settings. This study is timely, given public health momentum strongly
advocating for physician training and involvement in WMC and the dissemination and implementation of clinical
guidelines for o...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10832971
- **Project number:** 5R01DK134372-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER
- **Principal Investigator:** JUDITH K OCKENE
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $711,223
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-05-02 → 2028-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10832971

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10832971, MRWeight: Medical Residents Learning Weight Management Counseling Skills -- A Multi-Modal, Technology-Assisted, Spaced Education Program (5R01DK134372-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10832971. Licensed CC0.

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