Table 6.

Patient-provider weight communication.

Theme	Selected quotes
Positive experiences
Appropriate words used	My daughter's pediatrician, they use weight as a word, not obesity or fat, you know, weight, having weight issues and made her feel like a bigger part, saying that a majority of kids these days have weight issues: lower or higher.
	They just said my daughter was gaining X amount of weight . . . They didn't say anything negative. They just said that they took her weight from previous years and then added it up to the next physical year.
Helpful feedback and support	I don't think I ever had any negative, any kind of feedback is good feedback . . . just telling what kinds of foods to eat, the portion size, how often to eat, what time not to eat at.
	My son ended up losing some weight and the doctor gave him a pat on the back. He said good and good job Mom.
Addressed medical causes, consequences	I've had a good experience . . . they've been so polite with her . . . giving hope to her that she can lose weight and feel the way that she wants . . . for my granddaughter, that wasn't only what we were eating, was the new medication that she was taking increased her appetite and she gained weight, a lot of weight.
	[The doctor] sent her to get a blood test and her sugar levels, they were too high. So it's a good thing she do that because the spots in her neck, she said it's not eczema, it's a sign of diabetes . . . I was so excited that she really figured that out.
Negative experiences
Inappropriate words used	The word that I don't like – it was used for me, but also for my kid – obese. I don't like that word, I really don't like that word.
	They weighed [my child] and then the doctor told him, ‘Oh, for your age you're fat.’ . . . [The doctor was like] that's my way of making him understand that he needs to lose weight.
Inadequate response to weight concerns	I had a concern with my son's previous pediatrician . . . and he said he'll grow out of it, he'll grow out of it – until recently, a couple of years ago, we changed the pediatrician and the first thing this new pediatrician said to us was the weight issue.